Chasing Shadows
by Wonijs
Summary: Twice encountered... Twice cursed. With the looming guillotine of fate steadily falling towards him, one young sage will continue to do what he's always done. Never give up. He'll fight to the bitter end to fulfill his master's dream and bring about a brighter future for his precious people... Even if such an endeavor takes him to places where no other shinobi has ever set foot.
1. Hemorrhage

_**Author's Note: Hello all my future fans (hopefully anyways)! I've been reading stuff on this site for a few years now and have always toyed with the thought of writing some stories myself. I finally decided to get my ass into gear, and well... this is the result. I sure picked a hell of a time to finally do this though, with all the stories being deleted and all. Oh well, I hope you all enjoy...**_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Rosario+Vampire or anything else mentioned in this story. Everything belongs to their respective licenses holders. I couldn't own either series, because apparently, I have a crippling fear of money and success._

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**Chasing Shadows**

**Chapter One :**_** Hemorrhage**_

* * *

_Pointless death... Bottomless hatred... Unending pain..._

_That... is war..._

_Those were some of Nagato's final words to me before his death... Unfortunately they were words I feel I didn't truly understand until I faced war firsthand._

_The Fourth Ninja World War pushed my belief in my sensei's dream to the limit. As I gazed over the sea of bodies littering my vision, I couldn't help but feel a world where people could truly understand one another had never seemed so far away._

_In the end though, I never let my faith for a brighter future waver. I had far too many people counting on me, too many people betting their hopes and dreams on me... I wouldn't, couldn't, allow myself to falter. Defeat would've meant the end of everyone and everything I had come to love... _

_Due in part to my actions, I can see a glimmer of the world my master dreamed of on the horizon..._

_However, it was a victory that came at a heavy price. Countless shinobi of the elemental nations lost their lives before everything was said and done._

_Some of my precious people included..._

_I learned many harsh and unforgiving lessons over the course of the war... but I refused to let it turn me into someone bitter at life. What the hell would that accomplish? As far as I was concerned, all that would do is belittle the sacrifices of my fallen comrades. I'll make every second of life I have left count. For them._

_I learned good men and women can die for stupid and senseless reasons._

_I learned how utterly fragile life can be at times... How incredibly powerful allies, who you consider invincible, untouchable, can sometimes die so very easily, from the simplest of things._

_I learned that there is no limit to how hollow, corrupt and irredeemably evil a soul can become with enough time and enough hatred._

_But the number one thing I learned by the end?_

_I learned that no good deed goes unpunished._

_..._

"Hey kid, wake up! Once we pass the tunnel just up ahead, we'll be right in front of the school."

With a start, the golden haired youth shot up from the bus seat he had apparently fallen asleep on. After rubbing his bleary eyes, he took a moment to glare at the driver, who's yell had ruined the awesome dream he'd been having about a wonderland of ramen. He quickly gathered his wits and took in his surroundings. He was slightly startled when he spotted a new passenger besides himself on this metal contraption called a 'Bus', sitting in one of the seats in the row across from him.

'Must'a picked him up sometime around the time I was swimming in that lake of ramen broth...' The blond boy mused to himself, taking a moment to look the other boy over.

The boy looked to be fifteen or sixteen and was... to put it bluntly, rather plain looking in his opinion. Dark hair, dark eyes, slightly pale skin, average height and build, if a little on the scrawny side, and he was garbed in what he recognized as the standard green academy getup. He then noticed that the boy was looking out the window while sweating, fidgeting and looking extremely nervous in general. Wanting to help the poor guy out and take his mind off his nerves, the blond decided to introduce himself.

"Hey there! Names' Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet'cha!" The newly identified Naruto walked over and greeted the other boy with a wide fox-like smile and an extended hand.

The dark haired boy jumped slightly, having had been lost in his own little world before the rather loud introduction. He turned his attention to the only other young man on the bus, finally getting a good look at him. The blond had been asleep, curled up in the fetal position, and drooling when the dark haired boy had first gotten on the bus...

The boy looked to be about his age and seemed to have a rather overwhelming friendly aura about him. The first thing he noticed right off the bat was the rather odd lines on his cheeks. They almost looked like... whiskers?... The recently identified 'Naruto' had bright yellow spiky hair, bright blue expressive eyes, a slightly round face and tan skin. He was slightly taller than himself and seemed to have a more athletic build as well. The strangest thing about him though, was his choice of clothing... He was wearing an orange and black jacket with matching orange pants.

With a polite smile the dark haired boy shook Naruto's hand. "It's nice to meet you too Naruto-san. My name is Tsukune Aono. Are you a new student as well?" he asked a little unsure, due to Naruto's clothes.

"Hmm? Yeah... _Unfortunately_..." Naruto answered, mumbling the last part to himself.

Having not heard Naruto's rambling at the end, Tsukune decided to ask what was on his mind. "Erm, not to be rude or anything... But why aren't you wearing the standard academy uniform?"

Naruto just stared at him blankly for a moment.

"Because I'm awesome." He stated confidently as if that fully explained it, but continued at Tsukune's disbelieving look. "I tried wearing that green suit... but it burst into flames, completely unable to handle me."

Tsukune sweat-dropped.

"We've arrived." Stated the creepy glowing eyed bus driver, interrupting their conversation. Both boys turned their attention to the front of the bus and could see the end of the tunnel just ahead.

"You two should prepare yourselves," he paused to let out a creepy chuckle. "Yokai Academy is a veeerrrry horrifying school!" He finished with an even creepier laugh.

"WHAA!" Tsukune screamed in confused horror, looking as if he was about to have a heart attack.

Naruto however looked almost bored. 'Sorry buddy, I'm afraid captain Yamato can make a waaaay scarier face than you can.' He thought to himself with a shiver.

**-****x****-X-****x****-**

(A Few Seconds Later)

"Hehehe be careful out there boys..." Said the bus driver, giving one last piece of advice before driving off.

"Wait a minute! W-what is this place?" Screamed Tsukune at the disappearing bus.

He spasticlly glanced around becoming more and more concerned with every discovery: Creepy dead trees: check. Creepy cawing birds: check. Creepy blood red water: check. Creepy lightning and thunder: check. Creepy and ominous castle like structure off in the distance: check.

Hoping to find something _NOT_ creepy he turned his attention to Naruto, who was sporting an unreadable look while intently staring down a scarecrow, mumbling something along the lines of 'Chronic lateness' and 'Porn addict'. Tsukune decided, that frankly, he didn't want to know.

Creepy and possibly insane blond guy: check.

"W-what a creepy place!... It's like a totally different world from before we entered the tunnel..." Tsukune continued, looking on the verge of a panic attack at this point. 'Maybe I should just go home... It would be less scary!'

He suddenly felt a hand land on his shoulder. "Hey, calm down Tsukune. I know this place is a little..." Naruto paused, thinking of the right word. "Eccentric... but its gonna be alright buddy." He finished with a confident grin. Inwardly giving himself a pat on the back for even knowing a word like 'eccentric'. He guessed listening to Sakura ramble when she was in her 'nerd' mode, had to have _some_ benefits every once in a while.

The sincerity and kindness in Naruto's voice instantly calmed Tsukune's nerves. "Thank you Naruto-san."

"Meh, what are friends for?" Naruto replied nonchalantly.

"Friends?..." Tsukune asked, in slight disbelief of this person he had known less than five minutes.

Naruto blinked. "Yeah, sure, why not? No offense, but you look like you could really use one."

Slightly stunned, Tsukune quickly reevaluated his opinion of the blond. He may be extremely weird, but he seemed to be a genuinely nice person. So he happily responded with a simple nod and a smile.

Naruto grinned and continued. "Besides you worry too much, nothing bad is gonna happe-"

"_Gyaaa_! OHHhh NOooo! Coming through!" A voice interrupted him.

Naruto turned around, and was promptly nailed in the face by the front tire of a speeding bike.

**-****x****-X-****x****-**

(One concussion later...)

Pink.

When Naruto started to regain his bearings he became aware of several facts: The first being that his vision was filled with strands of pink hair. His mind immediately wondered what Sakura was doing here, due to the fact he just suffered a blow to the head and he saw pink hair.

It made sense to him anyways...

The next thing he idly noted was Tsukune's voice freaking out in the background, going on about 'This place is too scary!' or something like that... That kid was too damn jumpy.

Then finally (and what he probably should have noticed first), he was flat on his back and felt the weight of someone laying on top of him.

He grabbed the person's shoulders, most likely a girl from the small shoulder frame, and lifted them off himself gently as he could.

"Oww... Oh, I'm sorry! I got dizzy from my anemia..." The now clearly female voice apologized. "A-are you okay?" She asked in concern helping Naruto sit up and allowing him to finally get a good look at her.

"Whoa..." He muttered breathlessly.

The girl before him was defiantly added to his 'Complete Babes' list instantly. She looked to be about his age and had long pink hair that fell past her lower back. She had smooth looking light skin and big bright green eyes that were full of kindness and concern. Her whole demeanor seemed to radiate a certain innocence. She was wearing what he guessed was the standard uniform for girls, a green button up jacket and an incredibly short plaid skirt. He made a note to shake the hand of whoever had the idea for that one... Then violently smashed that thought to the recesses of his mind and cursed Jiraiya's name.

'She looks a lot like Sakura-chan... Just _way_ more beautiful.' He thought to himself quietly, before flinching slightly in fear of how badly Sakura would kick his ass if she heard him say that out loud.

Quickly shaking himself out of his revere, he answered her question. "Yeah I'm fine. You okay?"

The girl, also getting a good look at him for the first time, blushes slightly at his handsome features, though she sweat-dropped and felt guilty at the tire mark that ran across his face vertically. She then noticed a small trail of blood flowing from the top of his forehead, causing her to gasp lightly.

"Oh no! Your bleeding!" she yelled, quickly searching her person for a handkerchief to wipe it off.

Naruto brought a finger to his forehead and swiped his hand across it. He pulled his finger back and looked it over. "Meh, no big deal. It's not bleeding much, and I'm a fast healer anyways." He looked back up, only to be startled at the girl being much, much closer to him and sporting a glazed look in her eyes.

"The scent of blood..." The girl began, in a somewhat zombie-like fashion. "I... I can't..." She fell forward and leaned into his chest, making the blond blush at the sudden and unexpected closeness. "I lose control when I smell that scent..." The girl continued.

'W-wha-what the hell is happening here?' Naruto screamed in his mind, completely befuddled at the sudden turn of events. The bike thing didn't surprise him as much as it would a normal person. Crazy shit was always happening to him, he had accepted that as an unavoidable part of his life at this point. But seemingly random intimate physical contact, and with a beauty like this none the less, was an almost surreal experience for a boy whom most of his life had been treated as if he didn't exist.

Neither noticed Tsukune staring at the scene in shock and more than a little jealousy.

The girls hands snaked around the sides of Naruto's face, causing his blush to deepen. The girl leaned forward whispering. "I-I'm sorry but... It's just because..." Now their noses were nearly touching. Naruto felt he could give Hinata a run for the money at this point, with how dark his blush must be.

"I'm a vampire!" the girl declared, suddenly moving her lips to Naruto's jugular and sinking her fangs into his flesh.

_Silence..._

"GYAAAAHH!" Tsukune screamed like a little girl and ran around like a chicken with it's head cut off, flailing his arms around randomly and shouting about 'Blood being sucked!'.

Naruto however, having been a professional ninja for a long time now, had seen much weirder things than this. Repressing his initial instinct to throw the girl off, he looked at the happily slurping girl and tried judging the situation as best as he could... The girl seemed pretty kind beforehand, and it really had seemed as if she simply lost control of her instincts, so he was certain this wasn't some kind of attack. He was also _pretty sure_ she would stop before he would approach dying of blood loss. I mean, how much blood could her stomach hold anyways?.. With that thought in mind, he figured he might as well let the girl finish up, as it would be rude to stop her in the middle of a meal. After all, he'd be pretty annoyed if someone came up and knocked the ramen he was eating out of his hands.

He'd probably end up punching that someone in the face.

A couple minutes later, filled with the background noise of Tsukune freaking the hell out, the girl finally pulled back with a happy and satisfied sigh. She then began blushing in embarrassment, realizing what she had just done.

"I'm sorry! My name is Moka Akashiya, and although I look like this, I'm really a vampire." The girl finally introduced herself.

"Naruto Uzumaki..." The blond absently introduced himself to her, running a hand over the already almost healed puncture wound. 'So I was right... this _isn't_ a normal school...' He thought, narrowing his eyes.

"Vampire! You mean like the blood sucking monsters that hate crosses and garlic?" Asked a seriously freaked out Tsukune.

Moka turned her head to Tsukune, seemingly noticing him for the first time. "Yep!" she answered him simply with a happy smile and a nod, taking a minute to learn the dark haired boy's name. She then immediately turned her attention back to Naruto.

"Thank you so much for the treat! Your blood is sooooo yummy!" She thanked Naruto profusely, all while sporting a blush and a dazed look as her body slightly shivered.

Naruto just sweat-dropped at being thanked for something like that.

After Naruto took a moment to calm Tsukune down (again), the three of them started walking in the direction of the school while making small talk. Naruto was carrying Moka's slightly mangled bike over his shoulder, promising her he'd get it fixed, even if the accident had been her fault.

"Um, Naruto? Why aren't you wearing the academy uniform?" Moka asked, eying his orange clothing. With a light blush, she decided to herself that it actually suited him quite well in a weird way.

"My set of the academy clothes were torn apart by a pack of wild wolves." Naruto answered simply.

Moka and Tsukune sweat-dropped, though Tsukune's was significantly larger, having remembered Naruto's earlier answer to the same question.

The small talk continued for a while before both boys noticed the girl looked nervous all of a sudden, they turned their full attention to her.

"Do... Erm... Do you two not like vampires?" she asked shyly tracing shapes with her foot in the dirt walkway. Looking like she'd burst into tears if either of them answered positive, but her attention was focused mainly on Naruto.

Naruto's eyes softened and he opened his mouth to reply, but a frantic Tsukune beat him to the punch.

"Huh? No, I wouldn't say that! I mean, vampires are pretty unique!" Tsukune desperately tried to calm the girl.

Naruto threw a grin towards his new black haired friend before turning his attention back to Moka. "I'm not big on judging people by their race or by rumors before I've ever even met them." He informed her simply. 'Lord knows I've certainly suffered enough discrimination firsthand... I refuse to ever be a bigot like those idiots in my childhood.' He thought solemnly. "Besides, from what I've seen, you seem to be a really good person." He told her with a wide smile, that unknowingly made the girl blush darkly at his words and at his smile.

Moka smiled like a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "That's great! Would you two please be my friends?" She asked, suddenly looking shy and vulnerable again. "I-I don't know anyone here, I was worried I was going to end up feeling alone..." she trailed off, smiling a smile that Naruto instantly knew was fake. He focused on her eyes, and what he found caught him off guard.

Loneliness.

It was an emotion he knew better than just about anyone else alive, having lived as a Jinchuuriki and all. It honestly surprised the hell out of him to see it in the eyes of such a beautiful girl. He figured most people would flock to her for her looks, not to mention that kind personality of hers.

'Heh, guess that shows what a kid I still am sometimes... Making an assumption like that...' He thought bitterly.

Putting on a fox-like grin that seemed to stretch his entire face, Naruto answered her. "Of course I'll be your friend! I'm pretty sure Tsukune will be as well." He paused and glanced at the other boy, who nodded his head rapidly.

Naruto's smile then became much smaller, but somehow seemed to carry much, much more emotion.

Both Moka and Tsukune would remember his next words as the moment they first realized there was something _different_ about Naruto Uzumaki... Well, other than his odd quirks and personality.

"As long as I'm around I'll never let you suffer from loneliness again, I promise." He paused and looked at Tsukune knowingly. "That goes for the both of you..." He brought his right hand up to eye level and made a fist. "And I never go back on my word, I'll follow my unbending words to my dying breath, dattebayo!" Naruto finished with a smile that oozed confidence and with a fire burning in his eyes that left both Tsukune and Moka feeling that he was being completely serious.

Moka was looking at him like a love struck teenage girl. She had a blush on her cheeks and she was staring at Naruto with dreamy eyes. It was something that flew right over Naruto's head...

Tsukune was gazing at him in a bit of awe as he felt a genuine smile work it's way onto his face, feeling he had just made a true friend for the first time in his life. He paused though as a thought struck him and he snorted.

'Dattebayo?... The hell?' He wondered as the three new friends entered the school grounds.

-x-**X**-x-

(Classroom)

Somewhere along the line after the opening ceremony, Naruto, Tsukune and Moka ended up getting separated from each other in the stampede of new students. Naruto had actually been a little late for his first class, but used his stealth skills, which were honed from years and years of antagonizing bloodthirsty assassins with elaborate pranks, to slip in through a window into one of the two empty seats next to Tsukune without anyone but said black haired boy noticing him. The two were now sitting in the back row, listening to their new homeroom teacher give her introduction.

She was... pretty hot, Naruto decided. She had sandy blond hair that fell to her shoulders, with two clumps at the top of her head that kinda looked like ears. She was wearing glasses and semi casual clothing with a short-

Wait... was that a tail?... Huh... Maybe those _are_ ears on her head after all...

Shaking his head, Naruto tuned back into whatever his new teacher had been saying.

"-and welcome to Youkai Academy! I am your homeroom teacher Shizuka Nekonome." The teacher introduced herself with a smile to all her new students. "I think you all already know this but, this is a school built for the sake of monsters to attend!" While most of the class just kept staring at their teacher blankly, having known that information a long time ago, two of the students widened their eyes.

Naruto quickly regained his cool though, as he had strongly suspected something like this after Moka had claimed being a vampire earlier.

Tsukune looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack (again). He darted his head left and right, realizing he was surrounded by monsters on all sides.

Naruto watched him out of the corner of his eye and Kakashi's old saying 'Look underneath the underneath' came to mind. Naruto smiled faintly, quickly figuring out _why_ the dark haired boy had been acting so scared. 'So I'm not the only human here am I?... Good.' He felt a strange sense of relief know he wouldn't be in this alone, even if Tsukune was a civilian. He refocused on what Shizuka was saying.

"The earth has already come under the control of the humans. In order for us monsters to continue to survive, we have no choice but to continue to peacefully coexist with the humans. At this academy, you will be studying 'How to coexist with humans'!"

Naruto desperately tried not to bust out laughing as Tsukune freaked out more and more with her every word.

"So for that reason," Shizuka continued. "as a school rule: You will all live your lives at this academy in human form! Do you understand? It's a matter of being able to disguise yourself well as a human! This is the foundation of coexistence."

'Seems much more like the foundation of hiding to me...' Naruto thought, looking at Shizuka incredulously.

"You are never to allow any of your fellow students to know your 'true form', _understand_?" Shizuka stated, stressing the importance of her words at the end.

"Hey teacher, would it not be better to eat up those puny humans? And in the case of beautiful girls, better to molest them..." Boldly asked one boy. He had slicked back brown hair, and his face was covered in various piercings.

Tsukune gaped at him in horror, and Naruto's earlier mirth at Tsukune's actions instantly shifted to contempt for this asshat. Naruto glanced around the classroom and was a little disgusted that only a hand-full of students seemed openly appalled by that comment. He felt even more disgusted when a couple students laughed and agreed with him. Deciding to shut this moron up before he said anything to piss him off even more, Naruto focused on the jackass and sent a wave of killing intent his way.

The boy froze, suddenly feeling an extreme sense of vertigo as an overwhelming aura landed on his shoulders. His mind became clouded from an undefinable feeling of pure primal fear. Then just as soon as he felt it, the feeling disappeared. He let his head fall to his desk with a 'thud' and gasped for air while wondering what the hell had just happened. No one but Naruto seemed to notice his predicament however, they were all focused on Shizuka's response.

"Oh! Incidentally, here at Youkai Academy the teachers and the students are allll monsters, there are no genuine humans here!" Shizuka said, completely ignoring the pierced brunette's _actual_ question. "This academy is located within a secret sacred world! Any of those humans who come to know of our existence, we will bring them _death_ or something..." She finished, seeming a tad unsure on the actual policy.

Tsukune, of course, reacted to this news by freaking out even more.

Naruto however, scowled.

"Oi!" Naruto shouted, waving his right arm through the air, gaining the attention of everyone. "You just said, not a minute ago, that the whole point of this school is to teach 'peaceful coexistence with humans'. And now, your saying any human that stumbles upon these grounds will be killed? I can tell you right now, true peace will never come if you unthinkingly kill for such a stupid and goddamn senseless reason!... When you spill someones blood, their loved ones will grow to hate you and want _your_ blood. Hatred begets hatred; it's a never ending... cycle..." He trailed off, noticing the various looks he was receiving.

Most people were simply gaping at him, for the combination of his unusual perspective as a 'monster' and wondering how the hell they'd missed spotting someone wearing bright orange. Several of the girls were gazing at him and blushing, wondering how they missed this hottie. Then a few, like that pierced brunette asshole, openly glared at him. Thinking he was just some weakling human sympathizer, with no pride as a monster.

Tsukune, For the second time that day, got the feeling his new friend wasn't an average teenager. Something about the way he had spoken just now... it seemed as if derived from experience. Also, the fact that his friend unknowingly (as far as he knew) defended him brought a smile to his face.

Shizuka blinked and smiled slightly at the blond haired boy, wondering to herself how she had missed spotting such a uniquely dressed student. Although he had just interrupted her and cursed rather loudly, she didn't feel inclined to punish him. After all, she actually agreed with the point he was making. That, and it was still the first day of class, so some lenience could be shown. Her tail began to wag as she finally opened her mouth to reply to the blond, but a voice sounding from the door interrupted whatever she was going to say.

"Scuse me! After the entrance ceremony I kinda got lost in the school... Sorry I'm late!" A slightly winded Moka shouted as she ran into the room.

'What a cute one!' Shizuka thought to herself. "Oh, that's fine, just take a seat."

"Okay." Moka replied with a smile as she scanned the room for an empty seat.

A stunned silence filled the room.

Naruto's speech moments before was completely forgotten by most instantly in the presence of this beautiful girl. Nearly every guy in the room was gaping at her with blushes on their faces or lust in their eyes. Many random shouts and cat calls filled the room soon after, a couple morons even stood up on their desks and cheered.

"Who is she?"

"S-such flowing hair! Big eyes!"

"Whoa beautiful! Even if it's just her transformation, their isn't anyone else who could transform into such a beautiful girl..."

Naruto mentally disagreed with that last one. He could... 'Naruko Uzumaki' was also a member of his 'complete babes' list after all.

"HOT! SHE'S TOO HOT!"

"Please! Go out with me!"

"I'm so happy to be in the same class as this girl!"

Naruto finally decided to end this stupidity and help Moka find a place to sit down in one fell swoop.

"Hey Moka." Came a quiet casual call that somehow seemed cut through all the shouts in the room, instantly drawing said girl's attention. When she saw who called her name, she smiled brightly and ran across the room to the source of the voice.

"Naruto-kun! And Tsukune too!" The girl shouted happily throwing her arms around said boys in a hug. "I'm so happy! We're all in the same class!" She exclaimed, leaving Tsukune blushing and Naruto smiling at the excitable girl. Naruto idly noted her adding the 'kun' to his name but not Tsukune's, but thought nothing of it.

The effect this action had around the room was instantaneous.

"What the hell? Not that guy again!"

"Please! Please, someone tell me their just relatives of hers or something!"

"Our beautiful girl! Our beautiful girl!"

Tsukune looked at the sea of growling males in apprehension and dread. While Naruto just smiled at them all mockingly, pissing them off even more.

-x-**X**-x-

(Hallway)

'I-is this a dream?... It has to be... I've made two new friends, discovered the existence of monsters, and had a beautiful girl hug me. All within the span of a couple hours... If this_ is _real, then maybe... maybe this place won't be so bad after all.' Tsukune thought to himself with a genuine smile while gazing at his new friends. 'If I can be this happy, I guess that monsters aren't that big a deal!'

Class had let out a few minutes before, and Moka had immediately grabbed both Naruto and himself. They were currently walking down the hall, under the stares of almost all the students in the hall. Though Tsukune noticed both Moka and Naruto seemed ignorant to that fact. Moka was in the middle excitedly pointing things out. Tsukune was on her left and she was holding his hand, while Naruto was on her right and she had her other arm interlocked with one of his own.

"Hey, Hey! Isn't this a cool hallway?" Moka enthusiasticly asked.

"Uh... yeah. I guess so." Tsukune responded, a little unsure what to say to something like that.

"Let's see whats over there!" Moka shouted happily, gesturing in a seemingly random direction.

Naruto remained strangely silent throughout the exchange, wearing a small serene smile. This was the first time in a while he had felt content, simply spending his time among friends.

He heard the chattering in the hallway pick up again and tuned it out completely. A skill picked up from a childhood filled with everyone around you whispering hateful things at your expense as you passed by them. While Moka was actually oblivious to the fact that most of the chatter in the hallway was about herself, Naruto simply didn't care enough to bother listening to whatever these hormone driven morons were rambling about. Tsukune however, heard it all. Much to his growing dread...

"Wow... did you see that girl?"

"WHOA! Beautiful! I've never seen such a hottie!"

"I... I want to date her!"

"Hey! Who the hell are those guys with her?"

"Perhaps they'll leave on their own..."

An evil chuckle filled the air.

"If not, those bastards are dead!"

"Let's just kill them now and be done with it!

"Yeah! That black haired one looks pretty scrawny, and the blond is apparently some kind of weakling human sympathizer... We can take them both easy!"

'GYAH! So bloodthirsty!' Tsukune screamed mentally, once again becoming fidgety. He began glancing around they hall franticly, noticing more and more males glaring at Naruto and himself.

"Hmm, such a pretty one." A voice sounded directly in front of them catching not only Tsukune's attention, but Moka's and Naruto's as well this time.

Tsukune took a small step back in fear, it was that brown haired guy with all the piercings. The 'Kill all puny humans and molest their women' guy. Naruto didn't move, but almost imperceptibly narrowed his eyes. Moka simply stared at the teen curiously, having not been in the room when the boy made his earlier comment.

"You are called Moka Akashiya are you not?" He asked her with a cocky smile and a wink. "I am your classmate Saizou Komiya! Salutations!" He greeted Moka, then took a step forward and did something that caught everyone by surprise. He grabbed Naruto by the front of his shirt and lifted him into the air with seemingly little effort.

Complete silence filled the hallway. Everyone who hadn't been watching beforehand, suddenly focused in on the encounter.

Tsukune and Moka both looked at their friend in worry, fearing for his safety due to Saizou's sudden aggressive actions. They then both glared at the person threatening their friend.

Now, Naruto... well... Naruto just stared at Saizou in amused disbelief, taking no action to free himself just yet.

He felt an odd sense of comfort in the fact that there existed _someone_ that was far, _far _stupider than himself. 'This guy would probably piss himself if he knew the kind of people I've defeated...' Naruto thought, giggling like an idiot mentally. 'I've fought and survived against people that could kill this guy with a look, _literally_, hehe...' Thinking of a certain clan with crazy eyes and bad attitudes.

"By the way, why is a beautiful lady like yourself associating with a couple of weak guys like these?" Saizou continued casually talking to Moka, as if he wasn't threatening one of her friends. He seemed to be ignoring Tsukune's presence for the most part. It was something Tsukune would normally be thankful for, but in this situation, only served to annoy him.

A random student spoke up. "That's... It's Saizou! That guy is Komiya Saizou! He seems like he's probably one of those ill mannered suspicious rouge monsters. He sounds like quite a ladies man, from all the human women he's molested."

Naruto's left eye twitched at the sheer stupidity of that last comment. How the hell does 'molested' translate to ladies man?... While simultaneously, white hot rage built up within him at hearing that this bastard had _already_ violated multiple women. He had been willing to give this guy of the benefit of the doubt before, and assume he was simply running his mouth off. But now, he had the strong urge to neuter this guy ruthlessly and be done with it.

The random student continued, oblivious to the fact he was sewing the seeds of Saizou's doom. "They say he caused too many problems out there in human society and was forced into this academy against his will."

Saizou pointed at himself with the thumb of his free hand and said in a self important manner. "Wouldn't someone like me be far superior to these sort of scummy guys?" He leaned his face forward towards Moka's, making the girl pull her own back in disgust. "Why don't we go off somewhere just the two of us and have some fun?" His presence suddenly turned more menacing. "Well? Why don't we go-"

He never got to finish.

Before anyone in the hallway could comprehend what happen, Naruto's and Saizou's positions switched. The blond was back on his feet, while Saizou was dangling high in the air with one of Naruto's hands wrapped around his throat in a vice like grip. An impressive feat given Saizou was noticeably larger than the blond.

The students in the hall all stared on in mute shock.

Well, most of them anyways...

"HOLY CRAP! I didn't even see him move!"

"Whoa... I guess he's not a wuss after all."

"I'm suddenly very glad we didn't attack him earlier."

None were more surprised than Tsukune and Moka. Up until this point, Naruto had been the most easy going and upbeat person either of them had ever met. The entire time they had known him, his eyes had been filled with happiness, mirth and a bit of mischievousness. Now though, they radiated nothing but cold fury.

It was like he was a different person entirely.

"Listen, and listen well Saizou, this is your only warning; I'm only saying this once." Naruto began in a serious voice, which was totally different from his normal lighthearted one.

"You're days of raping girls are over." The shinobi said with finality.

"If I _ever_ hear of you approaching a girl with force again," He tightened his grip around Saizou's throat, who's face was starting to turn blue from lack of oxygen. "or of you threatening one of my_ friends_!" Naruto sent another wave of killing intent upon Saizou with the word 'friends', much more concentrated than last time.

"I'm not sure what I'll do... but you can bet your ass you won't like it!" Despite saying that, Naruto had a few ideas in mind, most involved delivering a full powered rasengan to Saizou's manhood. The blond then kneed Saizou in the crotch hard as he could without adding chakra. "Don't cause any trouble and you'll never have to deal with me again. But if you harm another girl, I'll be your worst nightmare." Naruto finished with a intense glare. The blond then released his grip, letting Saizou fall to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Without even bothering to look back, Naruto began walking off.

Everyone in the hall was left frozen in shock at the rather sudden and complete change of fortunes, staring at Saizou who was writhing on the ground in pain cupping him abused man parts and desperately trying to get air back in his lungs.

The first to gather themselves was Moka, who quickly grabbed Tsukune's hand and took off after their blond friend.

The hall exploded into animated conversations not long after they were out of sight, with the topic being the new 'sexy' (at least according to several females) but terrifying blond guy wearing orange.

-x-**X**-x-

(Stairwell)

When Moka and Tsukune caught up to Naruto, he was pacing back and forth near a set of stairs. He saw them coming and turned towards them, but refused to meet either of their eyes.

"I'm sorry if I scared you guys back there," Naruto began a bit meekly, afraid his new friends might be frightened of him after that little display. "but bastards like that guy only ever respond to one thing; force. I truly hope I'll never have to follow up on that threat... but I meant what I said. That bastard won't be harming another girl as long as I have something to say about it." He said, finally turning his eyes to his friends, who had been watching him intently.

His fears were alleviated when he found they were both smiling at him.

Tsukune spoke up first. "It's alright Naruto-san, you did the right thing and you were only defending Moka from that guy. Besides, we all have our own demons I suppose..."

Naruto gained a strange smile, as if Tsukune had just said the funniest thing he had ever heard in his entire life.

Moka continued where Tsukune left off, missing Naruto's odd smile. "Tsukune is right! Although, I'll admit that whole situation left me a little scared..." She stopped and smiled brightly at Naruto. "At least now I know I can count on you to come to my rescue!" She finished with a blush.

The girl once again appeared shy. "B-besides..." She brought her hands to her cheeks and swayed side to side as her blush deepened. "We're on blood sucking terms!"

Both Naruto and Tsukune face-faulted at that.

"Be proud of yourself! You have the greatest blood I've ever tasted Naruto-kun! It's way better than any of the blood I've drunk before from blood transfusion packs. It's bursting with flavor and filled with some kind of power I've never felt before! I think I actually feel a bit stronger after having drank it! Plus, it tastes sooooo good~!" Moka said, accompanied by a little happy dance.

Naruto recalled Anko once told him something similar, though the way she had said it was a lot less excited sounding and a lot more scary. At the time, he thought she was just making crap up to justify freaking him out and licking his blood every time she saw him. But now...

He shuddered.

Moka was oblivious to Naruto's distress. "W-well actually you know," She continued, acting shy (again). "th-that was my first time Naruto..."

"HUH?" Shouted Naruto and Tsukune simultaneously. Naruto was sure if he had been drinking something, it would have just gone spraying everywhere in a classic spit-take.

Moka favored Naruto with the most beautiful smile the girl had shown yet. "You're the first person who's body I've ever fed from Naruto-kun. That feeling... I'll never forget it!" She finished with a wistful look.

Naruto, a ninja known for being loud and never knowing when to stop running his mouth, was left stunned and unable to form a response for once in his life.

He was only able to blush like an idiot and awkwardly try to move his suddenly very heavy jaw to respond to the gorgeous girl standing before him. He felt strangely touched that she shared this event with him, since to her, it obviously held some rather strong significance.

Tsukune stared at Naruto in unhidden jealousy.

"Oh I'm so embarrassed!" Moka's blush increased and she pushed Naruto away playfully into a wall. Causing the concrete wall to crack...

'HOLY SHIT! She may be just as physically strong, if not stronger, than Sakura-chan!' Naruto thought, with no small amount of terror.

Tsukune was looking at the cracks in the wall with wide eyes, having similar thoughts regarding super strength.

"Come on you two!" Moka shouted, running down the hallway happily. "Let's have some fun! Let's check out the academy!"

The two males shared a glance and a smile and ran to catch up with the excitable girl.

-x-**X**-x-

(Pathway To Dorms)

A day filled with laughter and exploring all around the academy followed for the three friends.

Sometime during the course of the day, Naruto had decided that this academy took the whole 'Haunted' thing to a new (and stupid) level. There were creepy statues and dying plant life as far as the eye could see. He had counted well over five hundred gravestones all over the campus at this point. He sincerely hoped most of them were just for the ominous effect. The alternative was not a comforting thought at all...

The three were now headed to the dorms, to finally bring their long day to an end. Moka was a couple feet ahead of her two friends, happily skipping and humming to herself.

Seeing they could talk privately for a moment, Tsukune took the opportunity to ask Naruto something that had been bothering him for a while.

"Naruto-san, I have a question." Tsukune began unexpectedly.

Naruto turned to him and raised an eyebrow, giving him the silent go ahead.

"Why... why are you so friendly with someone like me? I mean I can understand why you're so nice to Moka-san, but I'm just a worthless normal guy..."

Naruto's response was to smack Tsukune upside the head.

"First of all, don't sell yourself so short. I bet you'd be surprised just what you're able to do when it really matters. Second, you can drop the damn 'san' already. You're my friend, no need to be so formal." Naruto then scowled. "And third, what the hell do you mean by 'you understand why I'm so nice to Moka'? Are you implying you think I'm just trying to get under her skirt or something?"

"What? No! Of course not!" Tsukune quickly replied, shocked, apparently having not thought of other ways his words could be interpreted. "I just meant that she's a wonderful and kind person who seems to light up the room... It's kind of hard _not_ to like her..."

Naruto's scowl transformed into a small smile. "You're far from worthless buddy, you just proved it in my eyes with those simple kind words." He patted his friends shoulder. "Also, I get the distinct feeling that you and I are the _abnormal_ ones around here." He finished, giving the dark haired boy a knowing look.

Tsukune looked confused, but then realization dawned on him. He leaned closer to Naruto and whispered conspiratorially. "You mean you're-"

Naruto cut him off. "Yeah, you're not the only human at Youkai Academy." He assured his friend quietly.

Tsukune was both shocked that Naruto had figured out his secret, and relieved that he wasn't the only human here. It made him feel an even stronger bond with his new friend, since the both of them were out of their element in this strange new world.

When he thought about it, this revelation made some of Naruto's actions and words from earlier in the day make a bit more sense to him. But it also made the blond's fearless actions against Saizou standout and surprise him all the more.

Moka's face suddenly appeared between the two of them. "What are you guys whispering about back here?" She asked suspiciously.

Both of them jumped, startled, neither having noticed her stop skipping and approach them.

"N-nothing important." Tsukune hastily lied.

Naruto just whistled innocently, seemingly taking up a sudden interest in cloud watching.

She gave them both a strange look, but then shrugged and apparently decided to let it go. "So... I've been meaning to ask you both... what type of monsters are you?" She asked with innocent curiosity.

Tsukune froze and began to sweat, while Naruto contemplated the pros and cons of telling her he was human.

"Oh!" Moka shouted, interrupting their thought processes. "Letting your true form out is against school rules isn't it?... Sorry, I didn't mean to ask that question." she corrected herself.

Both boys released a silent sigh of relief at that.

A thought stuck Tsukune and he decided to voice it while they were on the subject of monsters.

"Speaking of which Moka," He began, gaining the attention of his friends. "I can't really see you as anything except a normal human... Are you really a vam-vampire?" He stuttered at the end, a little scared of the answer.

Naruto turned to Moka, curious to hear her answer as well.

"Yep, of course!" The girl answered happily, with a hint of pride in her voice. "Right now I look human, but..." she paused and opened the front of her shirt a little, unintentionally giving the boys a good view of her cleavage. Both boys blushed at the sudden and unexpected show of flesh. "Ya see, If I take this rosary on my chest off," She continued, oblivious that she had just given her friends an eye full. "I become the real thing, an evil and scaaaary vampire!"

'Rosary?...' Both boys thought, focusing in on said object. It was a fancy looking silver cross with a round red gem of some sort in the center.

"Rosaries have the effect of sealing off a vampire's power." She stated informatively, but then her demeanor became sad. "Since in my original form I was hated and caused conflict, I put this rosary on myself so I'd keep my vampire powers sealed."

Tsukune just stared at her in shock, the reality that his new friend was truly not a human seemed to finally set in.

Naruto's mind was racing. He was filled with more emotions than he could hope to identify. 'She... she too bears a type of seal that holds back power, though her's is self imposed. It also sounds like she too was feared and hated by others for simply existing... I... I knew she acted like I used to when I was younger, smiling despite feeling the pain of loneliness... but this... This girl is a lot more alike me than I would have ever guessed.'

He suddenly felt a dainty hand softly placed on his chest, braking him from his inner monologue. He looked up to find Moka right in front of his face sporting a small blush.

"Vampires, even if our power is sealed... we still end up craving blood!" She stated happily, before once again sinking her fangs into his jugular with a small cry of 'my weakness!'.

Naruto only sweat-dropped.

The three arrived at the dorms not long after that (Moka drank her fill first of course), and Tsukune immediately freaked out seeing the run down and ominous looking building. Saying that it was far too creepy of a place to live.

Moka, strangely enough, thought the building was a dream come true. Claiming it was full of dignity and character. The perspective of a monster both boys supposed...

Naruto remained indifferent, the apartment he lived in most his life had been pretty run down by most standards as well. So it was pretty much a non-issue to him.

After helping Tsukune get a hold of himself (again), the three went their separate ways for the night, to unpack and settle into their new dorm rooms.

-x-**X**-x-

(The Next Morning)

Naruto was groggily walking towards the academy, rubbing his bleary eyes and cursing the bastard with the ridiculously loud snore in the room next to his own. Naruto vowed to prank the hell outta that rat bastard as soon as he got the chance. He had just crossed over a small hill when he came across what he was quickly beginning to suspect would be a common occurrence.

Tsukune freaking out.

He then noticed something that quickly shifted his sleepiness to being fully awake and alert; the black haired boy had all his luggage in his hands...

"Hey Tsukune," Naruto greeted. "what's with the bags?" He asked carefully.

"I-I don't think I can stay here Naruto... It's just too dangerous!" Tsukune told him, sounding defeated.

"Did something happen since the last time I saw you?" Naruto asked him calmly as he could through his growing worry that he was about to be down one friend.

It was obvious to Naruto that _something_ must have happened, as the last time he talked to the boy he seemed genuinely happy. Sure, the boy had always been pretty damn jumpy, but this was a complete one eighty in personality from the last time he talked to him. The way he was acting now was as if someone had flat out threatened him or something...

Tsukune began a bit unsure and timidly. "W-well, I had another run in with Saizou and-"

Naruto stopped listening after that, already knowing it was time for him to go kick someones ass. 'What an unbelievably stupid bastard... I warned him to leave my friends alone. What happens next is his own damn fault for not listening...' He angrily thought through narrowed eyes.

Whatever Tsukune was saying was cut off by the arrival of Moka, who cheered happily and threw her arms around Naruto's shoulders from behind him.

"Good morning Naruto-kun! Tsukune!" She greeted happily. "If we don't hurry we're gonna be late to... class..." She trailed off noticing the black haired boy's bags. "Tsukune?" she asked concerned and much more subdued, sliding off Naruto's shoulders quietly.

Tsukune looked away. "I-I can't help it! This school is just too scary! I wanna go to a human school..."

Naruto just looked at his friend sadly. If that was really his choice, he wouldn't stop him.

Moka however, looked shocked. "A human one?..." she asked, dumbstruck. "No way! You can't go to a human school! I hate those humans!" she shouted.

Tsukune and Naruto stared at her wide eyed, shocked to the core.

"Huh?" Tsukune voiced for the both of them.

Naruto was pretty sure he already understood, recalling her comment yesterday about being hated. It left him feeling disappointed. A bit disappointed in Moka... But mostly disappointed in himself. He had been naive. He had foolishly thought, _hoped_, that such a pure soul like Moka would have been immune to letting hatred color her opinion of an entire race. He should have known by now that _everyone_ feels hate, and that it is usually far harder to forgive then it is to simply give into that hatred.

Nagato had taught him that much...

He shook himself of his revere and listened on as she told her tale.

"You know I... I actually went to a human school up through middle school." Moka admitted. "I was isolated... None of those humans believed in monsters, so I started thinking I was weird. That I was different that everyone, that It'd be better if I wasn't there. That It'd be better if I disappeared..."

Naruto nodded sadly to himself, he'd lost count of how many times in his childhood he had asked himself something similar. It remained that way until he found his resolve to prove them all wrong.

"It was sooooo tough..." Moka continued. "But, you both said it was alright even though you found out I'm a vampire... This has been the first time in my life that I haven't felt alone!" She finished with a fond smile for the both of them.

Tsukune just stared at her in shock in with wide eyes as his mind tried to process everything he had just learned.

Naruto felt a great sense of sympathy for the girl in front of him. At least he had started finding his precious people four years ago. He also felt a sense of respect for her at the fact that she lasted sixteen years and still remained such a good person. He doubted he would have made it that long in the Leaf Village if no one had ever started believing in him... Frankly, he was terrified of what he may have become if he had never forged any bonds. With that in mind, he hardened his resolve on his earlier vow to never again let this girl feel loneliness as long as he was around.

"You can't go Tsukune! Let's study hard at this academy, the three of us! Together!" Moka pleaded, not wanting to lose one of her friends when she had just gained them.

"If..." Tsukune finally began to respond, in a subdued voice. "If I said I was one of those humans you hated... would you still stop me?"

Moka froze and looked at him wide eyed, thinking she heard wrong. "H-huh?"

"I'm... human." Tsukune whispered. But he might as well have shouted it with how it echoed throughout the clearing.

'What will you do now Moka?... Will you let your bigotry control you, or will you listen to your heart?' Naruto silently wondered. He was watching the pink haired girl intently, praying that her natural kindness and love for her new friends outweighed her old hatreds.

"I am human! Through some kind of mistake I ended up being let into this school, I'm different than you!" Tsukune yelled, letting out his frustration with this situation.

Moka began to become scared. "No!... There's no way a human could be here..." She took a step back in fear.

It was something Tsukune immediately picked up on, causing a pained look crossed his face. He quickly turned on his heel and began walking away. "Moka... that look on your face was because you realized I'm human..." He said without looking back. "That's right, I shouldn't even be here after all..." he said, more to himself this time.

Moka looked horribly conflicted. She turned her attention to Naruto hoping to find some kind of support, but was shocked and a little hurt to see him looking at her stoically. But after looking at his eyes, she got the distinct feeling he wanted her to decide this all on her own.

She chased after Tsukune and put a hand on his shoulder "Wait! Really, Tsukune I-"

He cut her off. "Let go!" he shouted shaking himself free. "You hate humans right? I don't want to befriend a monster either!" He yelled, taking off in a run towards the bus stop.

"Tsukune!" Moka shouted in sorrow at his disappearing form. She dropped to her knees and began to cry into her hands.

Naruto frowned in the direction Tsukune had ran off. He knew the dark haired boy hadn't meant that for an instant, he was just speaking out of anger and frustration.

He sighed and made his way over to Moka, hoping that this would all turn out alright in the end.

When he knelt down in front of the girl he was caught off guard when she suddenly lunged forward and began crying into his chest. After an awkward moment passed (for him at least), he pulled her into a hug and gently ran his hands through her long pink hair while making quiet soothing sounds. If past experiences had taught him anything, it was that he was normally pretty freakin terrible at reading girls. So all he could do was hope that his current actions were having the intended effect of calming the girl down.

After a couple minutes the girl's sobs subsided and Naruto decided to ask the important question.

"So... are you going to condemn Tsukune because of his humanity?" Naruto asked her bluntly. Beating around the bush had never really been his style.

Moka lifted her head from Naruto's chest and looked at him with her tear stained eyes. "No... I was being stupid... The whole time I was in that human school all I wanted was a friend, that's all I've _ever_ really wanted..."

Naruto gave her another one of those small smiles that was loaded with emotion. "I'm glad. It would have been bad if you had kept on hating humans, because you would have had to force away two friends."

Moka's eyes widened. "You mean-"

Naruto nodded, cutting her off. "Yeah, I'm a human too."

Moka sat shellshocked at the thought that she may have just forced away not only Tsukune, but Naruto (her secret crush) as well. _Both_ of her new friends...

Naruto stood up and dusted off his pants. He turned and began to walk in the direction Tsukune had disappeared, but a hand caught his wrist stopping him in his tracks.

"W-where are you going Naruto-kun?" Moka asked, more than a little scared he was leaving her too. She realized somewhere in the back of her mind that it was probably an irrational fear, but she was scared and emotional right now.

Naruto turned to the girl and grinned reassuringly. "Relax. I'm just gonna go see if I can get that scaredy cat to come back. I'm not gonna stop him if he truly does want to leave... but I know he'd come to greatly regret it if he left on this note." He explained, but noticed the girl still looked concerned.

He tried to think of something that might help the girl calm down... Then a memory came to him of something Granny Tsunade had done to calm him down on occasion, when it was just the two of them talking like family, with their guards down.

He knelt down in front of the girl again and brushed a few stray strands of hair out of her face. He then leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her forehead and pulled back with a gentle smile. "You gonna be okay by yourself for a little while?" He asked kindly.

Moka just sat even more shellshocked than before, she swore her entire body must be practically glowing red with how hard she was blushing from Naruto's unexpected (but very welcomed) display of affection. She tried to open her mouth to say something but her voice seemed to have temporarily left her...

Naruto looked at her red face curiously, wondering if she had that same condition Hinata seemed to have. He just prayed that Moka wouldn't start fainting all the time like Hinata as well...

Naruto waited till he got a shaky nod from Moka that it was okay to go, then bolted off in the direction he thought the bus stop was.

-x-**X**-x-

(?)

Naruto stared.

The chipmunk stared back.

"FUCK! How the hell does someone even get this lost?" Naruto suddenly screamed at the heavens.

The chipmunk got the hell outta dodge and away from the crazy shouting man.

The blond shinobi was currently in the middle of a dead forest filled with absolutely no distinguishable landmarks for him to try and identify. In his haste to reach his wayward friend and convince him not to leave, a situation Naruto found horrifyingly familiar when he thought about it, he had apparently... taken a wrong turn somewhere... He was currently smack dab in the middle of 'Where the fuck am I?', and was more lost than he had ever been in his entire life. He idly wondered if this sort of thing ever _actually_ happened to Kakashi... Was he on the fabled road of life right now?...

"NAAAAARRRUUUTTTTOOOOO!" A scared voice screeched in the distance, shattering his thoughts. He shot off in the voice's direction without a second thought, afraid, as that had been Moka's voice.

Pumping chakra into his legs Naruto was able to cross the forest to Moka's location in a matter of seconds. When he arrived in the clearing, he found a bloodied and roughed up Tsukune protectively standing in front of a crying Moka.

'Good, he came back on his own... and it seems like those two made up as well.' He thought, allowing a brief smile to grace his lips before turning his attention to the... _thing_... that Tsukune was protecting her from.

The _thing _was some kind of giant grotesque humanoid creature with bulging muscles, deadly looking claws, razor sharp teeth and evil looking eyes. It was wearing what appeared to be the shredded remnants of an academy jacket and a pair of intact academy pants. It also had a ridiculously long tongue that instantly made him think of Orochimaru. A comparison that was very bad for the creature, as Naruto usually wanted to flat out kill anything he could compare to that snake bastard. Oh, and it was at least three or four times his own size he idly noticed. All in all, it was incredibly menacing and looked like something out of a nightmare.

Naruto was unimpressed.

The youki he felt coming off the creature was ridiculously miniscule and insignificant compared to the Bijuu. That, and he had seen some _far_ scarier looking creatures, or experiments he should say, when he destroyed one of the snake sannin's twisted laboratories with Jiraiya. This thing didn't even register as a 1.0 on his 'Oh-Shit-O-Meter'.

This thing had obviously been what harmed Tsukune, so without a further thought he bolted at the creature and took a flying jump. With a grin, Naruto decided to pull a trick from an old friends book...

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

The creature turned towards the shout only to receive a heavy flying kick to the face, which sent the gigantic thing flying across the clearing.

Naruto landed softly in front of the shocked Tsukune and Moka and looked at them over his shoulder. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late. But ya know, the hero always arrives at the last moment!" He said with a cocky grin while rubbing his nose.

"Naruto/-kun!" Tsukune and Moka simultaneously shouted in joy at their friend's timely arrival. "Naruto-kun be careful! That thing is Saizou's true form! He's an Ogre!" Moka quickly explained.

"That's Saizou?..." Naruto narrowed his eyes at the creature that was slowly standing up. Naruto half turned to his friends and pointed at Saizou with his thumb. "Who else is super glad his pants didn't get torn off as well?" He quipped while raising his hand like he was in class.

Moka blushed at the crude image that invoked and Tsukune gaped at him in disbelief, unable to believe he was making jokes at a time like this.

"Uzumaki! I was hoping you would show up! I'm going to kill you for what you did earlier!" Saizou roared when he finally managed to stand upright and see who hit him with that sucker punch.

"Don't worry guys, I got this." Naruto assured his friends with a calming smile before turning and slowly striding towards Saizou.

"You're going to kill me?" Naruto asked incredulously. "Trust me on this one, at the moment you should be far more concerned about yourself." The shinobi informed him with a scowl, still calmly walking forward. "I warned your stupid ass to leave my friends alone... And not a day later I stumble upon this little scene." Naruto cracked his knuckles loudly in an intimidating fashion. "You're gonna have to suffer the wrath of your own stupidity you jackass! I'm going to crush you!" The blond growled with a menacing glare.

Saizou ignored the nibbling doubt in the back of his mind that was yelling at him to flee to fight another day, and decided to listen to his pride instead. "Bring it you weakling! This time you won't catch me off guard! After I'm done with you, that scrawny guy is next! Then I'll make sure and take my time when I have my way with Moka..." The monster shot back with a dark chuckle.

Naruto's glare intensified tenfold. "Not in this lifetime asshole..."

Despite the obvious confidence Naruto was exuding, Tsukune and Moka were seriously worried for their friend. As far as they knew he was a normal human. An incredibly brave human, but a human none the less. Moka jumped up and began to rush past Tsukune, hoping to somehow save, or at least help Naruto.

*Click*

The small simple sound seemed to echo throughout the clearing, magically drawing everyone's attention.

Tsukune stood gaping at Moka's rosary, which had apparently somehow ended up in his hand.

Moka stared at her now rosary-less choker in complete disbelief.

Naruto blinked dumbly at the scene.

Saizou glared hatefully.

Youki exploded from Moka, kicking up wind and flooding the area with her power.

Moka's pink hair glowed and turned silver, her fangs elongated and her green eyes became slitted and deep red. They reminded Naruto a lot of his own eyes when he had the fox's unfocused youki flowing through him. Naruto and Tsukune then noted, with blushes, that the size of her breasts and ass increased noticeably. All in all, Moka seemingly transformed from a cute teenager into a sexy, mature and deadly looking young woman.

Naruto watched wide eyed with a hand in front of him to block debris from his face. 'Holy shit! She actually has about half as much youki as the Ichibi! Does... does her entire race have this kind of power?... If so, it's no wonder they're feared. An entire race with this much raw energy is a really terrifying thought. Perhaps even more dangerous than the Bijuu themselves with enough numbers...'

"Red eyes... and that overpowering sensation... She's a super vampire?" Saizou asked himself disbelievingly through gritted teeth.

Naruto blinked. 'Super... vampire? Does that mean normal vampires are weaker?...'

The youki flooding the area died down and a deafening silence filled the clearing.

"**Naruto.**" Moka called, her voice was now more elegant and somewhat arrogant. "**You wouldn't mind if I took care of things from here would you?**" She asked, smiling a smile that let him know she'd be doing this no matter what he said.

Naruto mutely shook his head with a dumbfounded expression.

Moka gracefully strode towards Saizou like a predator cornering it's unlucky prey. "**Why are you ****shaking?... I thought you wanted me? Why don't you come and take me by force?**" she asked mockingly with a sexy smirk, giving the 'come hither' motion.

Saizou didn't need to be told twice. This bitch was acting like he wasn't even a threat! He roared and followed her advice, charging towards her and taking a big swing with his massive claws at her.

"MOKA!" Tsukune screamed in horror at the giant hand heading her way. Naruto tensed but didn't immediately move, his instincts told him someone with that much power and that much confidence wouldn't go down that easily.

Moka simply raised a hand and stopped Saizou's massive hand, larger than her own body, without batting an eyelash. "**Really? You're attacking me with this pathetic amount of power?**" She asked with a mocking smile, seemingly disappointed. She then jumped in the air and delivered a spinning kick to his face. "**Know your place!**"

Saizou was instantly knocked unconscious from the force of the blow and his body flew out of the clearing, breaking several tombstones and trees in the process.

Naruto whistled. "Good distance." The blond then narrowed his eyes and gazed at the unconscious form of Saizou, whom probably had a broken jaw at the very least. 'You got off lucky asshole, I would have kicked your ass much, _much_ harder than Moka just did, for threatening my friends like that...' He had been rather impressed by that display of power from Moka as well. 'Is that her actual physical strength or is it some precise manipulation of energy, like Grandma Tsunade and Sakura-chan?'

Moka spared Naruto an amused glance before striding over to Tsukune, who was shaking like a leaf in the wind. "**Are you scared of this me, Tsukune?**" She asked while plucking the rosary from his grasp. "**Relax. I have no intention of harming you, the sentimental other Moka considers you one of her dear friends.**" She assured him before swiftly turning on her heel and sashaying towards Naruto.

Naruto gulped and couldn't help but notice the way her hips swayed as she walked.

When she finally reached him she placed a hand on his chest and looked up into his eyes. "**You... are a very odd man.**"

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle. "Would you believe me if I told you you're not the first person to tell me that?" He asked with a cheeky grin.

"**Hmm.**" She acknowledged with faint smile. "**I can tell you're not lying about being human. Your scent and the taste of your blood are definitely that of a human... And yet you show absolutely no fear or discomfort under the pressure of my youki, a feat most monsters can't even achieve... Not only that, but you truly seemed to believe you could have dealt with that low class monster. And for some reason, I feel inclined to believe you... So tell me, exactly who are you, Naruto Uzumaki?**"

Naruto was silent for a moment.

"Your friend." He answered simply.

She gave him a long look, perhaps searching for something. "**Hmph, I suppose that will have to do ****for now..." **She relented with a mildly annoyed look.** "You're behavior is quite confusing, at times you seem very open and at others it seems as if your hiding everything important about yourself. Most of the time you seem carefree and like minded to a child, but at moments I can see an experienced fighter in the fluidity of your movements." **Naruto was honesty unsure if he should feel complimented of insulted at the moment. He settled for a bit of both.

Moka gave him a look akin to predator that had found something too amusing to devour just yet.** "I look forward to learning what forged such an unusual man. Until then take care of the other Moka for me. Would you, Naruto?**" She reattached the rosary with a coy smile. She reverted to her pink haired less intense personality and fell forward into his arms unconscious.

A brief moment of silence passed before Naruto sighed. This 'Inner' Moka certainly was different from her counterpart. He equated the pink haired Moka to himself when he was younger with a big dosage of timidness and femininity from Hinata. But this silver haired Moka made him think of some unholy combination of Anko and Sasuke; something that both amused and somewhat frightened him. She also had an aristocratic aura and carried herself in a way that screamed nobility to him. He had guarded enough princesses and such in the course of his career to see the subtle signs without looking too hard. It made him seriously wonder, which Moka was the _real_ one? The whole situation was confusing and it was giving him a headache. He didn't think he'd ever understand girls, let alone girls with split personalities!

Naruto shook his head vigorously to clear his thoughts and picked Moka up bridal style and walked over to a dazed looking Tsukune.

When Naruto reached him he awkwardly shifted Moka into one arm and poked Tsukune in the chest with his newly freed hand. "I knew you would have all the courage you needed when it truly mattered." Naruto admitted his theory with a large smile, shocking Tsukune.

"Being terrified twenty-four-seven doesn't mean a damn thing as long as you have the strength of heart to not run when things get tough." He continued, looking at Tsukune right in his widened eyes.

"Just now, you stood up and protected Moka, without a second thought, against an opponent you _knew_ you had absolutely no chance against... She's a dear friend, yes, but she's still someone you've only known for a single day... I hate to break it to ya buddy, but no 'worthless normal guy' would do something like that. In my book, stuff like that takes someone exceptional." Naruto finished with an almost proud look, giving the frozen Tsukune a pat on the shoulder.

Without another word, Naruto shifted Moka back into a bridal style carry and began the long trek back to the academy grounds.

The black haired boy was left completely speechless. No one had ever said something quite so kind and encouraging to him before in his entire life. Not even his own mother...

With tears threatening to fall from his eyes, Tsukune turned and began to follow after his friend.

No...

His best friend.

* * *

**_AN:_ My original concept for this fic actually had it starting at R+V part two and had Tsukune written out of it completely. It's funny how things can change as your idea grows... **

**Now, to answer a couple questions I'm sure several of you have right off the bat:**

**Why Naruto is even at Yokai Academy in the first place will be revealed in time, you'll all learn most of it gradually, at the same time as his new friends. I purposefully left most of it pretty ambiguous. I did so for two reasons; to give myself some wiggle room if I decided to change something, and to add bit of mystery and wonder for the reader. :P (Oh and just to eliminate them, he is _NOT_ at the academy to escape the Akatsuki, to train demonic power of some sort, to forget about Konoha being destroyed, or any other reason you've seen again and again. _XD_)**

**And _yes_, this will _eventually_ be a _Naruto/Harem_ fic, but it won't happen immediately and it won't be all sunshine and butterflies with everything always flowing smoothly. **

**The whole romance situation will actually be alot more complicated than what this chapter would lead you to believe. You'll understand just what I mean by that in a couple chapters. You can also see I pretty much kept Naruto in character regarding how he is with girls; dense as a rock. I figured I could get away with it because the Rosario girls aren't exactly subtle in their approach to courting, heh.**

**Tsukune will likely end up with _someone_ (not sure who, though I have a couple in mind) from the Naruto-verse in the end.**

**Have a nice day folks. :)**

_**Read / Review**_

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	2. Saplings and Snowflakes

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Rosario+Vampire or anything else mentioned in this story. Everything belongs to their respective licenses holders. If I owned either series I'd be a rich man. If I were a rich man, yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum~_

* * *

**Chasing Shadows**

**Chapter Two :**_** Saplings and Snowflakes**_

* * *

"HOW DO I TURN THIS PIECE OF SHIT OFF?" Naruto screamed to the heavens while repeatedly slamming his alarm clock against the wall as brutally as he could.

The alarm radio was loudly blasting some girly pop song through it's surprisingly powerful speakers. The high pitched singer was shrilly going on and on about some cute boy or something.

It was Naruto's new definition of hell.

Yesterday after Naruto had safely dropped Moka off at the nurses office, and Tsukune got a few bandages for the minor wounds he had suffered, the black haired boy and himself spent the rest of the day talking back at the dorms. It turned out Tsukune's room was actually the door right across from his own, much to the dark haired boy's relief. He was glad that someone who could pull him out of a jam would always be so near.

Tsukune told Naruto all about his family and the city he grew up in. Naruto couldn't help the slight pang of jealousy as Tsukune described his mother, father and his favorite cousin with a smile. It reminded the blond of the things he never got to experience, but he quickly brushed away the small wave of bitterness. After several hours of laughing and goofing around Naruto left to his room with a smile.

The innards of the dorms were actually a lot nicer than they looked from the outside. Opposed to the rundown look the outside sported, the interior was clean, pristine and the individual rooms were quite large. Naruto guessed the whole dorm room was actually near the size of his old apartment, just a lot nicer. On top of that, it seemed every individual room was fully furnished, had a small kitchen and a full bathroom.

It made him question exactly what kind of funding this school had, considering he hadn't paid any kind of tuition. For that matter, the blond found it rather odd none of the school's staff had made a big deal about him not wearing the uniform. He had caught recognition in some of the teachers eyes when they first saw him. At the time, he'd assumed they simply heard rumors of the odd blond kid. Now that he really thought about it though, he wasn't so sure... Had they been told to show him leniency or something? Did the other students have to pay a tuition? Naruto decided he'd need to talk to the person in charge at some point... But for now, he'd roll with the punches and not look a gift horse in the mouth. No reason to needlessly rock the boat just yet.

The blond shinobi eventually made himself a nice dinner of several cup ramen and called it a night.

The next morning he was awoken by the sound of an alarm clock he hadn't even seen beforehand. Why hadn't this damn thing gone off on the first morning he was here?

The clock had started playing it's music rather quietly at first, but steadily increased in volume until it couldn't be ignored. Naruto had reached over and tried to hit the off switch, or at least the snooze button, as he rubbed the sand out of his eyes. But he couldn't find the freaking button...

He eventually brought the clock in front of his face, but his vision was still too bleary to make out the individual letters on the switches. He finally decided to just find the power cord and unplug the now painfully loud device directly from the source. He found the power outlet and did just that, but the clock kept running and kept getting louder.

The damn thing had an internal battery!

Naruto was seeing red at this point, this damn machine was mocking him! He quickly stood up and ran to where he knew where a support beam was located and slammed the insolent machine against the wall as hard as he physically could. The clock didn't even dent. Apparently it had been built with annoyed and physically powerful monsters in mind. Mockingly, the music seemed to get even louder. Naruto screamed in rage, this... this bastard machine was making a fool of him!

All that lead to his current predicament. Naruto knew the walls were rather thin between rooms, and if he could help it, he'd rather avoid being known from now on as 'that guy who listens to girly pop songs, very, _very_ loudly'.

Naruto's eyes quickly scanned the area, hoping for some kind of solution to ending the threat of the undying clock. Preferably one the left the damn thing in a million pieces. The blond's eyes widened and a grin spread across his face as he found his answer. The shinobi bolted across the room, flung the window near his bed open and threw the demonic clock hard as he could towards the skyline.

The sound of that horrible music growing dimmer and dimmer in the distance was the most absolutely beautiful thing the blond had ever heard.

After the adrenaline wore off, the ninja calmed down and realized he had just gotten into a fight with a clock. A fight which upon reflection, he's not sure who _truly_ lost. The blond decided to go take a shower to get ready for the day.

And to wash off the shame...

-x-**X**-x-

(Pathway To School)

"Say Naruto, what were you doing in your room this morning? I heard a girls voice, and lots of shouting and cursing from across the hall." Tsukune asked his friend as they made their way towards class.

"Angry sex." Was the blond's immediate smartass reply, barely managing a to keep a straight face.

Tsukune nearly tripped. "What?" He demanded while sporting a deep blush.

Naruto burst out laughing. "Hahaha I'm messing with you. But man, your face was priceless just now, haha!"

Tsukune's eye twitched in annoyance after he composed himself. "So why _were_ you so loud? You woke me up!"

Luckily Naruto was saved from giving a real answer as the crowd of students just ahead of them started talking loudly.

"Hey look it's the school's number one beauty, Moka-san!"

"She looks just as stunning as ever! It's like shes surrounded in light!"

"She's so dazzling!"

Naruto's eyebrow twitched at the sight of so many males crowding and blatantly ogling Moka. 'Ugg... fanboys...' The shinobi shuddered. The blond rushed forward into the mass of students and shouted. "Alright, shows over! Get a move on you jackasses! If you must ogle, ogle from a goddamn distance you perverts!"

The mass of males turned, annoyed, to tell off whoever was shouting and promptly, as one, took a step back. Rumors had spread very fast that the blond wearing orange had absolutely _decimated_ Saizou yesterday. The rumor mill claimed he might even be some kind of S-class monster! It was almost impressive just how fast the crowd spread out once they realized Naruto was the one yelling at them. Apparently no one wanted to antagonize him if they could help it.

Moka rushed forward and gave Naruto a big hug. "Thank you Naruto-kun! It was kind of hard to move around with so many people around me." the pinkett explained with an uncomfortable look on her face.

Naruto smiled warmly. "Anytime Moka. Are you feeling better since yesterday?"

"Yep! I feel better than ever! The nurse told me that you and Tsukune left me in her office, I wanted to thank you both." She said directing a smile to Naruto and Tsukune, who had just caught up.

Tsukune smiled. "That's what friends are for Moka."

Naruto just grinned and interlocked his hands behind his head. It was position Moka and Tsukune noticed looked as natural as breathing to the blond.

Moka decided to kick up a conversation. "Is it lonely for you two? Being the only humans here?"

Naruto and Tsukune shared a glance and a slight smile.

Naruto shook his head. "No, I'm not lonely. In fact it feels like it's been a lifetime since I've been this at peace."

Tsukune nodded. "Me too. Despite the danger of this place, I'm... happy."

Moka's smile was nothing short of radiant. "I'm so happy to hear that! But I want you to know, if either of you ever need anything, just tell me, okay?"

"Thank you Moka." The dark haired boy smiled, while Naruto just nodded.

The continued with random small chat while walking towards class before Moka's demeanor sudden changed. Her eyes became somewhat glazed and she started swaying slightly.

"N-naruto-kun." She stuttered as she placed her hands on a bewildered Naruto's chest. "I... I..." She mumbled as she brought her face up towards his own with a blush staining her cheeks.

Naruto couldn't stop his own cheeks from heating up as her lips were closing in on his own.

"Whenever I'm with you I just want to suck your blood!" Moka exclaimed as her lips suddenly went to his jugular.

Naruto sweat-dropped.

Tsukune watched the exchange with a strange expression. He had seen this scene play out several times now, and he still couldn't figure out if he envied the blond, or pitied him.

Moka pulled back once she had her fill and giggled embarrassed. "Sorry, it's just because your aroma is so good, I suddenly..." She giggled again. "Thanks for the treat!"

This time both Naruto and Tsukune sweat-dropped.

"Your blood really is the yummiest, Naruto-kun! I think I'm going to get addicted to you!" The pinkett said with a big smile.

Naruto was on the fence as to whether that statement terrified him or not.

"It really doesn't bug you when she just suddenly does that?" Tsukune asked the blond with a somewhat freaked out look.

Moka looked shocked that she might have been doing something rude and focused on Naruto's reaction.

Naruto glanced at the dark haired boy and gained a contemplative look. "Hmm, now that you mention it, it is kind of annoying that you do that so suddenly without warning." The blond said while gazing at Moka.

"Why?" Moka asked with a slight pout.

"Well, let me put it this way... what if every time I saw you I ran up and started sucking on _your_ neck." Naruto stated innocently.

Tsukune sputtered and Moka went beet red.

"I don't really have a problem with you drinking my blood, but some warning beforehand would be appreciated." The shinobi explained.

After Moka managed to calm her racing heart, she smiled brightly at Naruto and jumped on him with a big hug. "Oh thank you so much Naruto-kun! I promise from now on I'll ask before I suck your blood."

Naruto just smiled back and returned her hug.

The three friends continued with random smalltalk on their way to homeroom. Both boys noticed Moka seemed a bit distracted but neither commented on it.

Try as she might, she just couldn't shake off the mental image of Naruto giving her a hickey.

-x-**X**-x-

(Hallway)

Naruto released a deep sigh as he stepped out of what had to be the most boring class ever conceived. He would not be surprised in the least to learn the teacher was some kind of sloth monster. The man drew out every single syllable of every single word _mercilessly_. This period was one of the few classes he had that didn't have either Moka or Tsukune, which made the class all the more torturous. With another sigh Naruto ran a hand through his hair and began his trek through the hallway. He put his body on autopilot and let his mind wander until he stumbled across a scene that caught his attention.

A lanky blond male and couple dark haired guys, whom Naruto could only think of as 'cronies', were huddled around a little girl near a classroom door.

The little girl had a cute face, black hair that fell to her chin and light purple eyes. She was wearing white stockings and the academy plaid skirt, which he guessed must have had to been special ordered given her size. But the most distinct thing about her was that she was wearing a long black cape and a big pointy black hat, which Naruto thought looked completely awesome.

"Congratulations Yukari-san! Looks like you've aced another test! Just as I'd expect from a girl genius. Even though you're just eleven, it seems you didn't get to skip ahead to high school for nothing..." The lanky blond complimented the girl, who Naruto now knew as 'Yukari', in a way that seemed totally insincere to the shinobi.

"But listen up! Please don't get all high and mighty. Because in my eyes, you're nothing but an immature brat who reeks of her mothers milk." the lanky blond continued harshly.

"Class representative?" Yukari asked timidly.

"And what's the big deal with your outfit? It completely defies the school rules!" He admonished with a sneer pushing the young girl. "I despise people who stand out!"

"Kya! Pl-please stop thaaat!" The girl squealed as she regained her balance.

Naruto had seen more than enough at this point. With narrowed eyes he began striding towards the scene. Apparently he wasn't the only one who noticed the squabble as he heard several students in the hall speak up about the situation.

"Oh look, it's that girl genius..."

"She's getting bullied by her class representative again."

"Well... she does dress like that."

This whole encounter was feeling disturbingly familiar to Naruto but he couldn't figure out why.

The lanky blond guy spoke up again. "As the class representative your very existence gives me a headache." He knelt down and got in the girls face. "After all your true form is a witch is it not? How disgusting! I feel like vomiting just thinking that you're in the same grade as me!"

Naruto grit his teeth and increased his pace. This bastard was seriously asking for it.

The little girl's eyes flashed with anger and she brought something that looked like a hollow heart with a star in the middle attached to a pink stick up before her. With a flick of her wrist, a book flew out of a nearby open locker and wacked the class representative upside the head.

Yukari pointed at him and laughed. "Haha! You deserved that!"

Naruto momentarily slowed as the whole scene finally clicked in his mind. The blond's eyes glazed over and the little girl was replaced by a little blond haired boy and all the other students were replaced with spiteful villagers. 'This girl... shes just like me.' Naruto's eyes regained focus and he now full on sprinted towards the scene.

"You little brat!" The class representative roared and lashed out at the little girl.

Yukari gasped and closed her eyes bracing for the pain.

It never came.

She tentatively open her eyes and gasped again as she saw an image she would remember for the rest of her life. Her vision was filled by the back of a teenage male now standing between her and the class representative. He was wearing an orange and black jacket with a red swirl in the middle, topped by a head of bright blond spiky hair. She faintly registered as several people in the hall spoke up.

"Hey it's that blond guy that put Saizou in the hospital! Naruto, I think his name is."

"Fishcake?" Someone asked incredulously.

"No dude! Considering just how much he's been talked about lately and the rumor that he may be S-class, I think Maelstrom fits him way better."

'Naruto?' Yukari wondered. She'd heard of him. Wasn't he supposed to be some kind of stupid thug without morals? So why was he helping her?

She then heard her savior's voice. "Did you seriously just take a swing at a little girl?" The orange clad teen asked disbelievingly. "Against my better judgment, which wants to eviscerate you, I'll let this go one time. If you _ever_ bully her again, I'll break every bone in your body." She then heard a loud crack-snap and a howl of intense pain. "Oops, my hand slipped." She didn't need to use her genius intellect to figure out he snapped the class representative's wrist. "We clear?" Her protector growled.

"Y-yes" she heard the class representative whimper.

"Good. Now get the hell outta my sight before my hand slips again."

Yukari then watched, slightly dazed, as the class representative and his friends ran away with their tails between their legs.

"You okay kid?"

Yukari blinked and turned to her right to find Naruto crouched down to her level and looking at her, she finally saw her savior's face. What struck her the most were his eyes, she had never seen eyes filled with so much kindness and... _warmth_ in her entire life. The only ones that could compare were those of her parents. Even without having saved her, she would have known this boy, no... _man_, was a good person.

When she shook herself of her reverie she realized he was gazing at her in amusement, she must have been staring for a while. She felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. Her blush darkened when he laughed at her reaction.

Once she regained her composer she graced him with a small curtsey. "Thank you so much, you really saved me! My name is Yukari Sendou!"

Naruto smiled kindly. "No problem kid. That guy had it coming anyways. Names' Naruto Uzumaki by the way."

Yukari pouted and stared at Naruto defiantly. "Stop calling me kid!"

Naruto blinked and looked at her strangely for a moment before a big smile broke out on his face. 'Haha, I would have said the exact same thing when I was her age.' He chuckled lightly and held his hands up placatingly. "Fair enough. Yukari it is."

The young witch stared at him slightly stunned, she was not used to people listening to her outside of class.

"So what exactly was their problem with you anyways?" Naruto asked while scratching his cheek and gazing in the direction the boys had fled.

The girl looked at him with apprehension. "You... you don't know?" At the blond's shake of the head she elaborated. "I'm a witch. Long ago we were known as 'Boundary beings' because we walk the line between monsters and humans. But nowadays we're known as 'Half breeds' and are discriminated against." Naruto noticed she poke the last sentence with a bit of venom. "My kind are looked down upon by monsters and hated by humans. In the middle ages humans even had 'Witch hunts' and killed countless numbers of my kind."

"Well... that sucks... I'm sorry." Naruto wasn't sure what he could really say to a story like that.

An awkward silence passed between the two.

The little witch bit her lip and decided to ask the question that was burning through her mind. "Why... why did you help me?"

Naruto stared at her sadly. Was she so used to being discriminated against that someone coming to her aid was a foreign concept? He finally answered her after a long moment. "Because of your hat."

"W-what?"

Of all the things the blond could possibly say, _that_ definitely never crossed her mind.

Naruto grinned widely. "I saw it from all the way across the hall, and it caught my attention because I thought it looked really cool." She blushed at the unexpected compliment. "Forget what that jackass said about you standing out being bad. Your individuality is what saved you."

She smiled at the warm feeling those words brought her, but she wanted a real answer. "I want to know the real reason why. Why did you really help me?" The young witch asked him seriously.

The blond teen studied her eyes for a moment before sighing. "Alright, I did it for two reasons. One: It was the right thing to do. I would have never been able to look at myself in the mirror again if I just let something like that happen right in front of me without doing anything. It's just who I am." He said with a shrug.

Yukari's eyes widened. Was his sense of justice really that strong?

"And two..." He took a deep breath and spoke softer than before. "I know what it's like to be discriminated against... Boy oh boy do I know what it's like... That whole scene struck rather close to home."

Yukari's eyes grew even wider. 'He was picked on too? But... but he... he seems so strong!' She would have called him a liar, but the words died in her throat at look in his eyes. They were so very, very _weary._ She'd never seen someone so young that looked so very... _old_.

"Do you have any friends here?" The blond teen suddenly asked out of the blue.

Yukari opened her mouth to shout that she was a genius and she didn't need any friends, but once again those _damn eyes_ stopped her. She felt any lies would be useless against them, it felt like he was staring directly into her soul. "I-I don't have any friends... I've always been alone." She admitted timidly.

Naruto smiled sadly at the girl. "Then you and I are more alike than I thought. I didn't get any friends until I was twelve. I also have a feeling you and I dealt with our problems the same way; with pranks." The blond said with a chuckle at the end.

The little witch gaped at him in surprise, she didn't even need to look in his eyes to know he was telling the truth. She was getting the feeling he was the kind of person that didn't lie about important things.

The blond's smile then turned warm and happy as he extended a hand towards the young magic user.

"Well then Yukari Sendou, would you like to be my friend?"

The little witches eyes grew impossibly wide as she was more stunned than she had ever been in her entire life. Slowly her eyes began to fill with tears as she gazed at his extended hand. Without warning she shot right past Naruto's extended hand and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug and began crying into his jacket.

After a moment of surprise, the shinobi smiled and placed a hand on the girl's back soothingly. After a couple minutes the girl's sobs subsided into sniffles. "So, is that a 'yes' to the friend thing?" Naruto asked with a grin.

The little witch giggled and hiccuped as she let go of him and stood back to look at his face with puffy eyes. "Yes! I would love to be your friend Naruto Uzumaki!"

The blond stood his full height and began walking down the hall signaling for the little witch to follow with a small gesture of his head. "C'mon, It's lunchtime and I wanna introduce you to my friends. Tsukune is kind of a scaredy cat and Moka is a total sweetheart who wouldn't hurt a fly. I'm sure they'll both love to be your friends as well."

With a bright smile and a slight skip in her step the little witch quickly caught up with the shinobi. The two of them quickly getting into a talk about some of their greatest individual pranks as they walked towards the cafeteria, both sporting smiles.

Many students in the hall had seen that whole event start to finish, and were rather surprised to say the least.

"That guy..."

"He's scary as all hell when he's pissed, but..." Continued his friend.

"He's actually a really good person isn't he?" Finished another.

"He's so kind... and so dreamy..." Murmured a girl to her friends.

"He's got a sweet ass too." One girl said while shamelessly watching the departing blond with a leer.

"Kya! Don't be such a pervert in public!" her friends admonished.

"Tch, like you weren't thinking the same thing..."

One soul in particular was quite moved by the kindness she had just witnessed. A set of light blue eyes intently watched the back of the orange clad blond teen as he walked down the hall holding the little witch's hand.

-x-**X**-x-

(Cafeteria)

As soon as Naruto and Yukari arrived Moka waved at the blond while Tsukune sent him a curious look due to his companion. Naruto told the young witch to meet him at the table with the scrawny guy and the beauty once she had her lunch. The girl giggled at his description of his friends and nodded. While she was standing in the lunch line, Naruto sat down with said scrawny guy and said beauty and gave them a brief rundown of what happened in the hall earlier. When Naruto told them the witch was essentially a lonely little girl who needed friends, they both agreed to befriend her with no argument. Moka felt her growing feelings for the blond teen soar knowing he would go out of his way to help someone like this. Tsukune was also impressed with his friend, his respect rising even more for him.

When Yukari arrived at the table Moka happily introduced herself followed by a more reserved but smiling Tsukune. The little witch returned the gesture and introduced herself with a big smile. Moka then excitedly complimented the little witch on her outfit and the intelligence she must have possessed to jump ahead so many grades, causing the young girl to blush in embarrassment. They continued chatting, laughing and getting to know one another until Yukari posed a question that she'd been wondering about.

"By the way Naruto, I know I have no right to ask this considering I wear a cape and a witches hat... but why aren't you wearing the academy uniform?" Yukari asked.

"My grandma accidently washed them in a vat of acid." Naruto answered without even thinking or looking up from his cup ramen. Where had he even gotten that anyways?

Everyone at the table other than the blond sweat-dropped.

Tsukune couldn't help but shake his head with a wry grin. 'I wonder if I'll ever learn what he actually did with his uniform.'

The group kept chatting until the period was over then went their separate ways for different classes. As his friends all escaped his vision Naruto went through a mental checklist of what classes he had next and released a long sigh.

This school lifestyle was starting to get to him.

Compared to the constant stream of training and missions he had become accustomed to for the last four and a half years, this was just so... boring. Sure, he had been in a couple fights (If you could call them that), saved a couple damsels in distress, though one's inner self would probably kick his ass for calling her such and the other was around Konohamaru's age, but he was still feeling pent up.

Naruto came to a sudden decision. 'You know what? Screw it! I'm playing hooky the rest of the day! Maybe I can find a nice place to train somewhere in the forest. I'm going to start getting rusty if I don't get my ass into gear!'

The blond scurried to a nearby empty classroom and brought his hands into a cross hand-seal that had become second nature to him years ago. "Shadow clone jutsu!"

In a poof of white smoke an exact replica of the orange clad blond appeared.

"Alright, you know what to do. Head on off to class." Naruto ordered the living construct of his chakra.

"Now why the hell would I do that?" The clone shot back indignantly.

Naruto resisted the urge to face-palm. This was the downside to shadow clones... they had the users same personality. Therefor, they all had his work ethic towards school; meaning just about none. Unless something serious was happening, they would just end up playing hooky as well.

"Ugg... fine. If you go to class I promise to let you have some ramen before you dispel." Naruto said while rolling his eyes.

Naruto and his clone locked gazes for a good thirty seconds before the clone finally relented.

"God damn it..." the clone grumbled, grabbing Naruto's school supplies and heading off for class leaving a smirking blond behind.

After watching his clone begrudgingly walk away for a few seconds, the shinobi started walking back to his dorm room to grab some scrolls that had some weights and weapons stored within. Hopefully he could find a nice open clearing somewhere, preferably with some plant life that wasn't totally dead and twisted looking.

About halfway along the path back to the dorms he stumbled upon a scene that brought a deadpan look onto his face.

A rather large student with spiky black hair had a small scrawny guy pushed up against a tree and growled in a voice Naruto deemed 'Dumb henchman number five'. "Give me all your money!"

"A-alright! J-just please don't hurt me!" Squeaked the scrawny guy as he fished out his wallet.

'Am I gonna go one day at this school without some jackass pulling something?' Naruto wondered with a twitch in his eye.

Without any preamble the blond walked over, grabbed the back of the bully's shirt and flipped him over his shoulder with a great heave. The bully landed flat on his back and had the wind knocked out of him as a foot slammed into his abdomen. He opened his eyes as he felt the foot shift to his chest and met a pair of annoyed but glaring blue eyes. He then felt the stolen wallet roughly snatched from his hand.

"Here kid." Naruto called as he chucked the wallet lazily back to it's rightful owner.

The scrawny guy gasped and fumbled with the wallet as it reached him before looking back at the blond with wide eyes.

"Go on ahead and get to class before you're late, I'll deal with our friend here." Naruto shooed the awed looking teenager off with a small smile.

"A-alright! Thank you so much!" The gracious teenager called before quickly scurrying off to class to tell his friends about the awesome guy that had saved him.

Without looking down at the black haired boy, Naruto increased the pressure his foot was putting on the bully's ribs. "Listen up you douche. Stop picking on people, or next time I'll do a lot more than knock the wind out of you and hurt your pride." Naruto finally looked down and met eyes with the bully. "I'll kick your ass so hard you'll soil yourself every time you see the color orange from this day forth!" The blond took his foot off the bully and placed it back on solid ground before grabbing the black haired boy by the scruff of his shirt and lifting him to his feet with little effort. "We clear?"

The bully hastily nodded, he had heard that a blond guy wearing orange had put someone in the hospital just the other day. He knew he wasn't the sharpest tool in the crayon box, but he could put two and two together.

"Good!" Naruto said cheerfully. "By the way, I'm going to keep this as punishment for trying to steal from someone weaker than you and being a general all around dickhead." The blond said while waving a wad of cash in front of the bully's face.

The bully stared at the money blankly for a moment before it clicked. He quickly pulled his own wallet from his pocket and found it to be completely void of any money. His head snapped up and he gaped at the orange clad teenager. When had the blond gotten all his money without him noticing? Or better yet, how?

"Now, get your ass to class you delinquent!" Naruto ordered while giving the bully a rough shove towards the school, totally ignoring the fact he was ditching classes himself.

After pocketing the money Naruto watched in amusement as the bully sprinted off towards the school like the devil was at his heels, until a voice sounded from right behind him.

"You're very heroic aren't you?"

Naruto barely managed to repress the strong urge to scream like a little girl, but was unable to hold back from jumping several inches in the air. Once his feet hit the ground he quickly spun around while sliding a hidden kunai from his sleeve into a reverse grip, ready to engage whoever managed to sneak up on him. His eyes involuntary widened at the sight they were treated to.

Before him stood a girl that had light purple hair that fell past her shoulders and pupil-less blue eyes a few shades lighter than his own. The tail end of a lollypop sticking out of the corner of her mouth was something Naruto couldn't help but find to be kind of cute. The girl was around his age and had clear and smooth looking light skin. She was wearing thigh high pink and purple stripped socks, the short academy plaid skirt and a loose fitting white shirt. But what struck Naruto the most was the way she carried herself. She had a kind of calmness about her that, strangely enough, kind of reminded him of Gaara. All in all, he found the girl to be undeniably beautiful.

"Though, taking that bully's money wasn't exactly the picture of a paragon of justice." The girl admitted in a dry tone, the only sign of emotion being the amusement dancing in her eyes.

Naruto had the decency to look sheepish as he shut his eyes, grinned slightly and scratched the back of his head while he simultaneously and discreetly returned the drawn kunai to it's hiding place with his other hand. "True enough... But maybe that guy will actually learn a bit of a lesson this way." When he opened his eyes he found the girl had moved forward and her face was right in front of his own, totally ignoring his personal bubble.

"You know, you're even cuter up close." The girl stated with a small blush.

Naruto jerked his head back but couldn't stop his face from heating up slightly. He still wasn't used to getting compliments, especially ones of that nature. "Oh, uhh thanks." He choked out awkwardly.

The girl then tilted her head and asked. "Why do you do it? Why do you go out of your way to help people?"

Naruto blinked at the suddenness of the question but answered none the less. "I... never honestly thought about it before." He admitted scratching the nape of his neck.

The girl simply gave him a look, obviously searching for a more substantial answer.

At her behest, the blond continued. "I guess I help people when I can because I know what it's like to be in trouble and need saving." He turned to the side and looked up at the sun painting the afternoon skies with light. "Or maybe it's just because, despite everything I've seen and done in my life, my childhood dream of being a hero has never really gone away." The shinobi continued with a sardonic smile. "In the end my reasons don't really matter. If I have the power to make a difference for someone when they need it the most, then I'll damn well make that difference." He finished with a nonchalant shrug, turning back to look at the girl.

Only to find he was the only one on the path.

Naruto blinked and looked around. No one to the left. No one to the right...Where the heck did she go? Wait, for that matter...

"Who the hell was that?"

-x-**X**-x-

(Forest Clearing)

Three hours later, Naruto found himself wiping a minor layer of sweat from his brow as he finished a long set of pushup with a small boulder weighing down on his back. He unfortunately was unable to find any areas with thriving plant life like he had hoped, but he did find a clearing he found suitable. It was about a mile and a half away from the school and was located right next to a small lake. While the nature surrounding him was about as dead and twisted looking as it was near the school grounds, he found a small measure of hope in the fact that near the lake there were a few bushels of flowers that looked like they had some life left in them. He vowed to do what he could to make this clearing flourish as much as possible.

If this was going to be his training ground for the foreseeable he figured he might as well make it feel like home.

Besides, he actually liked gardening.

Just as the blond was about to start gathering some nature chakra, he heard a twig snap and felt his instincts warn him trouble was coming his way.

"Finally, we found you! I was beginning to wonder just how far you had run off."

Naruto half turned and raised an eyebrow at the sight of that blond guy that was picking on Yukari earlier, accompanied by sixteen... no seventeen other male students, all of whom were glaring at him.

"Luckily, I managed to get your scent after our little encounter earlier." The lanky blond growled while rubbing a splinted and heavily bandaged wrist.

"Did ya need somethin'? I was kinda in the middle of something." Naruto asked disinterestedly as he cleaned his ear with his pinky.

"You bastard! Don't act so nonchalant in a situation like this!" The lanky blond roared. "I don't care how strong the rumors are claiming you to be, we're going to kill you!"

'Well at least this guy is straight to the point.' Naruto mused.

The flesh of all the opposing teens began to distort and waver as their body mass began to visibly grow. Slowly their faces began to elongate and their skin began to harden and become scale-like. Their eyes became slitted and their fingers and toes became very sharp looking claws. By the time their transformations were complete the teens all looked like some kind of humanoid lizard _things_... with tails growing from the base of their spines and all.

"Huh. Well that's something you don't see everyday." Naruto commented with a tilt of the head.

The leader gave some unseen signal and one of the lizard men shot towards Naruto with it's claws ready to lash out. When the strike came, Naruto simply leaned out of range effortlessly, as the attack had been telegraphed a mile away. Before the lizard person could regain his footing Naruto simply took a step forward and buried a fist into the monster's gut. Blood and saliva escaped the reptilian teen's mouth and his eyes began to roll into the back of his head before he crumpled face forward into the ground, where he remained unmoving.

The other reptilian teens stared in shocked silence at how quickly their comrade was dispatched.

"Just a word of warning; numbers won't change the results here." The ninja said simply. Naruto was more used to fighting against overwhelming numbers than just about anyone else could ever hope to be. He could make his own personal army to spar against whenever he felt like it after all.

The remaining lizard men released primal roars and charged forward in hopes of overwhelming the cocky blond.

The frontrunner was quickly taken from the fight with a timely duck under a claw swipe followed a teeth shattering uppercut from the shinobi. The next two simultaneously fell from the blond somersaulting over their deadly claws and landing punishing heel-drops onto both their foreheads. The next five fell in rapid succession as the ninja used the previously felled foes faces as a spring board and shot forward through the air, landing devastating punches and kicks on those in his path before landing in a smooth roll.

As the blond stood back up, he very nearly lost a chunk of his arm as a lizard man's razor sharp teeth snapped together loudly in the spot he had just been. The blond informed the reptilian teen exactly what he thought of that idea in the form of a roundhouse kick to the face. Unfortunately before the shinobi could lower his extended leg, one of the lizard men managed to wrap a clawed hand around his elevated foot leaving him in an awkward positions. To make matters worse, the blond could hear two more lizard men closing in on his back.

Then something unexpected happened.

Two projectiles of some kind rapidly emerged from the nearby forest and impaled themselves into the ankles of the approaching lizard men behind the shinobi. Naruto ignored their howls of pain and hopped with his one grounded leg, quickly introducing said leg to his captor's face. The blond landed roughly on his back but quickly rolled to the left as a mouth full or razor sharp teeth tried to take a bite out of his neck. When the shinobi rolled himself into a crouch his eyes widened as he got a look at who had helped him.

It was that same girl from the walkway a few hours ago, but she looked a bit different. Her long hair seemed to be... frozen? That would certainly also explain the very long claws made of ice extending from each of her fingers. She was a few feet away from him engaging one of the lizard men in a game of claw versus claw. The blond bolted towards the scene as he noticed a lizard man attempting to flank her. Naruto rewarded the reptilian teen's efforts with a haymaker to the face.

The shinobi and the mysterious girl ended up back to back with the remaining four lizard men that could still stand slowly circling them, cautiously waiting for an opening.

Naruto grinned. "I'm not sure why you're here, but I'm definitely glad to see you!"

The girl blushed lightly at that, silently glad he couldn't see her face at the moment. "It looked like you could use some help."

"I woulda' found a way outta that situation." Naruto replied a bit defensively, but then paused and added. "Still, thanks for helping me. It means a lot."

The girl's blush darkened at the warmth and honest appreciation in his tone as he said that.

Naruto then realized something. "Ya know, I still don't know your name."

"Mizore Shirayuki." She answered simply with her blush fading.

The blond smirked. "Well then Mizore, lets kick some lizard ass!"

Both teens broke apart at the same time, charging the lizard men within their sight.

Naruto ducked under a double claw slash by sliding on his knees under a reptile man's extended arms. Once the blond was behind the monster he grabbed the creature's tail and began to twirl his entire body on his heel. The shinobi grinned as the reptile man yelped as his feet were lifted off the ground and his perspective began to rapidly spin. After three rapid rotations Naruto released the monster's tail leaving the creature to suffer from the momentum built and go flying across the field, where it collided harshly with one of the lizard men Mizore was engaging in combat.

With only two lizard men left standing, and one currently fighting Mizore, the lone monster standing before Naruto was feeling absolutely terrified. The lizard man roared and began to slash as rapidly and wildly as he could, hoping against hope that he could somehow stop this terrifying blond who hadn't even needed to transform into his monster state in order to beat him and his friends.

Naruto backpedaled as a few of those unpredictable strikes came rather close to landing, but then his eyes widened as he felt his back hit something solid, probably a tree. Thinking quickly, the shinobi spun and quickly sprinted up the tree and out of the deadly claw's reach. The blond then back flipped off the tree's trunk and over the monster's 'kill zone', landing in a silent crouch behind the lizard man. Said monster had just realized that his opponent was no longer in front of him, and what was likely about to happen.

"Oh fuck my life..." The monster sighed before a blow to the back of the head sent him into unconsciousness.

Naruto glanced over to see Mizore finishing up her opponent before he let out a long breath and looked around the clearing at all the unmoving or groaning bodies. With a smile forming on his face, Naruto decided that there were definitely worse ways to spend an afternoon. As he looked back over at Mizore he noticed she was heading towards him while sporting a slight limp.

"What happened? Are you alright?" Naruto asked her concerned, quickly closing the distance between the two of them.

The girl blushed slightly under his attention but answered none the less. "I'm fine. I think I just sprained my ankle slightly somewhere in that scuffle."

"Hmm, alright..." Naruto nodded before he suddenly stepped forward, put an arm under the girl's knees and another behind her lower back before lifting her off her feet and up into his arms bridal style.

"W-What are you doing?" Shouted the shocked and badly blushing girl.

"It's at least a couple miles back to the dorms. I'm not about to leave a pretty girl with a hurt leg to make that trek all on her own. Especially when that girl was hurt because she came to my aid." The blond declared firmly.

'P-pretty girl?' Mizore was normally a rather cool and composed individual, but this boy was making her completely flustered, and it seemed like he wasn't even trying to!

Naruto continued walking in silence for a few seconds while Mizore tried to come to terms with the fact that she was now in the arms of the handsome blond teen that had caught her interest.

"So what were you doing all the way out here anyways?" The blond voiced the question he'd been wondering about ever since she had appeared at his new training grounds.

The girl seemed startled at the question and slightly nervous. She took a few moments to collect her thoughts before she answered. "Because you're... unusual."

Naruto snorted but didn't say anything, waiting to see where the purple haired girl was going with this.

"From the very first time I saw you, you were just _different_. You dressed differently from everyone else and you loudly spoke of your convictions without fear of judgment or consequences... I suppose I kinda admire that kind of courage." She admitted almost wistfully.

At that moment, the blond noticed a profound sense of loneliness in the girl's eyes that he couldn't believe he had missed beforehand. What the hell was it with this place and all the cute lonely girls?... Naruto felt Jiraiya would have used this exact setting in his next book if he was still around to write it... The blond also thought on one particular line the girl had just uttered.

'Loudly speak of my convictions without fear of judgment or consequences? Is she talking about when I snapped at the 'kill any humans on campus' policy? Is this girl in my homeroom class?' The blonde wondered. 'Huh... Surprising. I woulda' figured I'd have noticed a girl this pretty on the first day.'

"The next time I saw you, you went out of your way to help and befriend that young witch. I..." She hesitated for a moment but decided to be honest. "I was rather moved by the kindness that I saw from you and decided to follow you for a while, to see what kind of a person you were."

She'd been following him since his first run in with the bullies picking on Yukari? And she even followed him all the way out here into the woods?... That was a little... _odd_... But whatever, this girl had put herself at personal risk in order to help him when she could have just done nothing.

As far as Naruto was concerned, that alone told him everything he needed to know about her.

"So what was up with the wolverine-like ice claws?" The shinobi inquired.

Silently thankful the blond had changed the subject, Mizore responded. "My race is known as a Yuki Onna, or Snow Women. We're able to freely manipulate snow and ice at our will."

"That's pretty cool." Naruto openly admitted. "Those ice powers of yours kinda remind me of an old friend of mine... Well, not friend, I guess technically he was an enemy, but I never really thought of him as such... And I suppose I never actually saw him make claws with his ice manipulation like you did... And in retrospect, I still think he was totally lying about being a male... Look! The point is, this is not the first time I've seen someone use ice powers in an awesome way!" Naruto exclaimed, trying to retain some of his dignity after his incoherent ramblings.

Mizore said nothing and just looked up at him bemused.

Naruto continued to walk with the snow girl in his arm for a few seconds in companionable silence.

"So why aren't you wearing the academy uniform?" Mizore suddenly asked. It was something she had wondered about since she first saw him.

"An eagle swooped down into my open window and stole my set of them before I could put em' on." Naruto answered with a bored look.

Mizore sweat-dropped.

-x-**X**-x-

(Girls Dorm)

"Naruto-kun, who is this?" Moka asked the blond with a strange expression that was somewhere between jealously and concern. Next to her Yukari stood gaping at the blond with the purple haired girl in his arms.

They had arrived at the girls dorm moments before, only to stumble across the vampire and witch, as they both were done with their classes for the day.

Naruto grinned widely. "This is my new friend, Mizore!" He turned his attention to the purple haired girl, who's heart had swelled at being so easily called his friend. "Mizore, I'd like you to meet two of my friends, Moka and Yukari!"

The girls all exchanged polite, if somewhat awkward, greetings with one another.

"Um, Naruto-kun? Why are you holding her in your arms like that?" Moka asked, unable to completely withhold the jealously she felt from her voice. However, Naruto didn't notice that her tone was a bit harsher than usual.

"She helped me out. Those bastards that were picking on Yukari earlier got some friends and decided to attack me in numbers. I was just carrying her because she hurt her ankle a bit and I didn't want her to walk on it too much." Naruto said while helping the girl back to her feet, much to the purple haired girl's silent disappointment.

"The class representative did?" Yukari asked alarmed, breaking out of the minor daze she'd entered.

"Yeah, but Mizore and I ended up giving them the ass kicking of a lifetime!" Naruto said with a grin, throwing an arm around Mizore's shoulders, causing the girl to blush.

Upon hearing the whole story, Moka's jealousy turned to gratefulness. "Oh thank you so much for helping Naruto-kun!" The pinkett exclaimed while grabbing one of Mizore's hands.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed at the attention she wasn't sure she deserved, as Naruto would have likely been fine on his own, she waved off Moka's praise easily enough. "No problem." She responded calmly.

Not to be outdone, Yukari quickly jumped into the conversation and began thanking Mizore as well, grabbing the purple haired girl's other hand.

Naruto chuckled to himself as he saw Mizore shoot him an almost pleading look as the vampire and the witch began to drag her off towards one of their rooms to get to know their new friend more. Naruto simply gave the girl a warm smile and a meaningful nod of the head, conveying that the girl should just go with the flow and make some new friends.

The purple haired girl seemed to understand the wordless message and nodded back slightly, eventually turning to talk to the two excitable girls while sporting a small content smile.

Naruto shook his head and turned to begin his trek to the boys dorm. He always made the strangest friends, didn't he?

He wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

**_AN:_ First off, _holy crapola!_ Over a hundred reviews for the pilot chapter! I cannot believe the exceedingly positive response I've gotten for this fic so far... Seriously, I couldn't wipe the massive smile off my face for like an hour. So I'd just like to say; thank you so very much to everyone who bothered to review. Big thanks to Pokemaster12 in particular, my review count skyrocketed after you mentioned this fic in one of your author's notes. Hell, I'd even like to thank the hateful little troll who was ripping on me for patheticly shallow reasons, he made me aware of a minor oversight on my part, one which I can quickly and seamlessly fix next chapter. Anyways, again, thank you everyone who reviewed. It really made my day.**

**Secondly, I bet most of you were surprised Kurumu wasn't introduce this chapter, eh? Don't worry, she'll be in the next chapter, I just felt like mixing up the order a bit. Well, that, and the specific way she introduces herself (Shes arguably the most straight forward with her intentions initially) is convenient for me to reveal a rather important plot element. **

**And finally, I feel the need to clarify a couple things before anyone might call me out on them: First, Naruto didn't use any ninjutsu in that fight because he felt it would have been major overkill just for simple schoolyard bullies with a grudge. And second, Mizore acted a lot less... pushy(?) than in canon because she had only known Naruto for a couple of days. In canon she had months to obsess over Tsukune's writings before she ever even met him face to face. In this situation, she merely found Naruto interesting enough to follow for a day, and was then swiftly and inexplicably pulled into his orbit. She'll become bolder with Naruto as time goes on.**

**Have a nice day folks. :) **

_**Read / Review**_

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	3. Embodiment of Lust

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Rosario+Vampire or anything else mentioned in this story. Everything belongs to their respective licenses holders. If I owned either series and the money that came with them, I'd build myself a nice little fortress... at the south pole! Why somewhere that excessively cold, you ask? Well, let me put it this way: State record heatwave plus extended electrical blackouts... Happy writer, this does not make. _

_Besides, having penguins for neighbors sounds pretty awesome._

* * *

**Chasing Shadows**

**Chapter Three :**_** Embodiment of Lust**_

* * *

"Are... are you sure this is such a good idea, Naruto?" Tsukune asked nervously.

"What? Of course this isn't a good idea! It's a terrible one!... That's why it's gonna be so awesome!" Naruto answered with a grin.

The two boys were currently inside the room of Naruto's neighbor, the blond having picked the lock moments before. Naruto still owed the bastard who lived here for keeping him from getting any sleep on his first day here, due to the inhabitant's ungodly loud snoring. It was time to get a bit of revenge.

No... Not revenge.

Naruto Uzumaki didn't believe in revenge...

He did however, believe in giving a slight nudge to the distribution of naturally occurring karmic justice.

A week had passed since Yukari and Mizore had been assimilated into their little group. During that time not a lot had happened, well, other than Naruto scaring the hell out of a few more bullies and him getting scolded for falling asleep during a few classes. The blond had also managed to make his training into a daily thing, which helped greatly in cutting down on his ever present boredom.

On his third day living in the dorms, the blond installed silencing seals on the walls around his room, to both keep noise out and to keep noise from escaping. In hindsight, he felt rather stupid for not doing that on his first night here, but he lamely justified to himself that he'd been rather tired at the time...

The only other noteworthy event had been when Tsukune had met Mizore...

x**-X-**x** (_Flashback_) **x**-X-**x

_(The Next Morning After Naruto Met Mizore - Pathway To School)_

"_Oh I wonder where Mizore-chan is? She was gone from her room before Yukari-chan and I left the dorms..." Moka muttered worriedly to her gathered friends. _

"_I wouldn't worry about her too much, she struck me as the kind of girl that can handle herself when necessary." Naruto tried to calm the pinkett with a nonchalant shrug._

"_Mizore?" Tsukune asked curiously, this being the first time he'd heard the name._

"_Yes?..." A voice sounded from right beside the black haired boy, a purple haired girl stepping out from behind a tree and into the group's field of vision. _

_Moka and Yukari squealed in surprise, while Tsukune let out a shriek at a higher pitch than Naruto thought any man could ever produce and jumped nearly four feet in the air, which was fairly impressive for a human civilian, before landing flat on his ass._

_Naruto managed to keep his own reaction to merely tensing and clenching his fists. 'How the hell does this girl keep getting the drop on me? I'm a ninja for crying out loud!' The blond mentally shouted. He could only theorize it had to do with the fact that she had no ill intentions towards him, so it wasn't nearly as easy for him to sense her as he would an attacker._

_'This girl would definitely make for a good kunoichi with some training.' Naruto silently analyzed. After looking at her for a few moments, he blinked. "Somethings different about you..."_

_Yukari quickly chimed in, having immediately noticed the change. "Your hair is cut shorter!"_

_And indeed it was, Mizore's light purple hair was cut much shorter than before and stylized with two long bangs framing her face._

_The ever bubbly Moka quickly supplied her own opinion. "It looks really cute!"_

"_What... what do you think Naruto-kun?" Mizore asked the blond shyly._

_The shinobi grinned widely and gave the girl a thumbs-up. "It looks great Mizore!"_

_The purple haired girl blushed cutely and smiled contently while gazing at Naruto almost longingly._

_Meanwhile, Tsukune didn't even bother to pick himself up off the ground yet, he simply sat gaping at the scene in front of him. 'No way! He seriously has another cute girl that likes him after only two days at this academy?'_

"_Please, won't you call me 'Mizore-chan' from now on? Since were so close..." The purple haired girl asked hopefully with her hands linked together in front of her chest and a tilt of her head._

_Moka twitched slightly. 'Just how close are these two?'_

_Naruto blinked again. "Sure, I guess I can do that... Mizore-chan." The blond answered with an innocent smile._

_Mizore looked as if she were about to burst from joy and Moka felt her jealousy spike to new found levels._

_The pinkett kicked at the dirt below and looked at Naruto shyly from under her bangs. "Naruto-kun, would you also call me Moka-chan from now on?"_

"_Oh! Oh! Call me Yukari-chan too!" The little witch quickly interjected._

_Naruto grinned widely and threw his hands back behind his head. "Sure thing, Moka-chan, Yukari-chan!"_

_Both girls smiled happily._

_The blond then turned towards Tsukune, who was dusting himself off after picking himself up, and smirked mischievously. "How bout' you? You wanna be known as Tsukune-chan from now on?"_

_Tsukune shot Naruto with the dirtiest look he had ever mustered. "No." He answered flatly._

(Present Time – Boy's Dorm)

Tsukune had been slightly pissy with the blond for the rest of the day, but came out of his funk quickly enough when Naruto shared some of his special ramen from his hometown with the black haired boy.

Tsukune had to admit, that stuff was actually quite good. Not good enough to justify eating it everyday like the blond did, but still pretty good.

After a full week had passed, Naruto finally saw an opportunity to prank his loud neighbor when the blond overheard the boy loudly agree to hang out with his friends at some supposed 'secret spot'. Was 'freaking loud' this guy's natural default?

Not that the blond was really one to judge on that front...

Once it was clear that the boy and his friends had left and would be gone for quite a while, the shinobi quickly gathered some of his old pranking gear, which he hadn't really had a chance to use in years, and made his way to his dorm-neighbor's room. How Tsukune ended up getting roped into the blond's scheme, the black haired boy would never know.

"Seriously Naruto, this is breaking and entering!" Tsukune reiterated in a worried whisper.

"Relax man, it's not like we're here to steal stuff. We're just setting up a few harmless pranks. Besides, we'll be long gone before anyone catches us. Now, please hand me that bag over there." Naruto answered absently while scoping out the room.

With a sigh, the black haired boy picked up a big bag of what appeared to be feathers and handed it to his best friend.

-x-**X**-x-

(Pathway To School)

"See, I told you everything would be fine. We got in and out in under ten minutes without anyone noticing us." Naruto said while patting his friend on the shoulder.

"I guess you're right... I still think doing that was a stupid risk though." Tsukune reiterated one last time before letting it go. They had gotten away scot-free after all.

"True enough." Naruto easily admitted. "But sometimes taking stupid risks yields the greatest rewards." The blond added with a grin, already imagining when his neighbor returned home.

Before The black haired boy could retort, the other males on the path in front of them began to speak up excitedly.

"Look! Look! It's the school's number one beauty!"

"Ah! Moka-san is so dazzling!"

"She's so radiant!"

Naruto sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Was he going to have to deal with this crap every single day? Without any preamble, Naruto rushed forward into the crowd and spoke up loudly. "Alright you hormone-driven morons, you should know the drill by now! Scram!"

Almost routinely at this point, the group of males quickly dispersed at the sound of Naruto's voice. The blond's reputation had only grown with time. Ridiculous rumors now claimed that he was some kind of super warrior who had been in battles with the fate of the entire world on the line.

Naruto inwardly found it highly amusing how close to the truth that actually was.

Once the path was clear, Moka quickly rushed forward. "Good morning Naruto-kun, Tsukune!" The pink haired girl greeted happily while giving Naruto a quick hug.

Once the group exchanged 'good mornings', they continued walking towards their homeroom.

"Um, Naruto-kun?..." Moka began shyly. "I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast this morning... and I was wonder if..." She trailed off.

Naruto merely chuckled and tilted his head with a small smile, exposing his neck to the girl.

The pinkett squealed in delight and brought her lips to the blond's jugular.

Off to the side of the crowd, a set of purple eyes narrowed calculatively and angrily at the scene.

-x-**X**-x-

(A Few Hours Later)

Naruto whistled a nameless tune to himself as he casually walked through the forest towards his training ground with his hands lazily thrown behind his head. He once again had a clone taking his place in his classes while he went to go get some training in. It cost him some ramen every time, but he had nearly a thousand cups of the stuff sealed in various scrolls, so he could make that small sacrifice.

That didn't mean It wasn't a painful sacrifice to make though.

'I think I'll work on the speed I can form one-handed rasengans today.' The blond mused to himself, before a noise caught his attention.

"Oooohhh... P-please! Someone help me..." A female voice moaned in pain.

With his plans for the day immediately being put on hold, the shinobi quickly began to seek out the source of the voice. When he finally found the origin of the noise, he felt his jaw involuntary drop.

A girl around his own age was on her knees with one arm on the ground supporting her, while the other arm was wrapped around her midsection in a pained manner. The girl had light blue hair that was tied back into a shoulder-length ponytail, but had two long bangs hanging free and framing her face. She had smooth light skin and her eyes were a deep purple. She was wearing the standard academy short plaid skirt and a yellow sweater vest.

Despite all that though, what caught his attention the most, and likely the attention of every straight man alive, was the fact that this girl was more... _developed _in the chest region than any other teenage girl he had ever seen. It also didn't help that the arm around her midsection was pushing her breasts up and making them even more pronounced and alluring.

'Holy crap, those puppies are big! I wonder if this girl is a distant relative of Grandma Tsunade?...' Naruto wondered to himself while doing everything in his power to keep his eyes on the girl's face.

He succeeded... mostly.

"Help me please... Please lend me a hand... I just suddenly started feeling ill..." The girl spoke when she spotted him, instantly knocking the blond from his staring.

After quickly rushing over, the blond helped the girl stand up. "Of course! Lets get you to the nurse's office." As the girl leaned against him for support, Naruto idly noticed she was pretty short. She was a full head shorter than himself.

"Oh thank you so much very much," The girl began weakly as they started heading to the school. "I've always had a weak body." The girl admitted. "My... My chest just started hurting all of a sudden..."

The girl pulled the blond's arm, that was around her shoulder in support, around her body almost forcefully. "Hold me tight. Like this." The girl said with a sudden and startling lack of fatigue in her voice.

"Bwha?" Naruto blurted intelligently, suddenly not sure what to make of the situation.

The blue haired girl wiggled herself to his front so that their chests were tightly pressed against one another. "Oh, my chest feels like it's going to burst!" The girl uttered in what could almost be considered a sensual moan as she firmly squished her large chest against Naruto.

Naruto face became completely red as his mind struggled to comprehend just what the hell was happening. 'What the hell is with this girl? One second she looked like she was struggling to breath, and now she... Oh god, her breasts are so big and they feel soooo soft...' The blond thought while drooling slightly, his mind officially signing out.

"Hey, look into my eyes Naruto-kun!" The girl spoke up again, looking up at him.

Naruto quickly regained his focus as this whole situation was set off warning bells in his mind. The fact that this girl seemed to know his name without him telling her in particular made him very wary. She could have just heard his name through the rampant rumors, but his instincts were screaming otherwise.

She was targeting him. But for what, he wasn't sure yet.

He met the girl's purple eyes with a light glare, but he'd already unwittingly fallen into her trap.

"I'm Kurumu Kurono. Please be a good friend to me, okay?" She asked with false innocence.

The instant she said that and Naruto's eyes met her own, he felt a sensation both very familiar and completely unknown wash over him. He struggled to keep his thoughts straight as his mind was engulfed in an undefinable haze.

'What the hell... This is almost feels like I'm under some kind of a genjutsu, and yet it also feels different! She activated this the instant our eyes met... God damn it! Why the hell does everyone seem to have some annoying doujutsu these days!' The blond mentally screamed in annoyance as he struggled valiantly to keep any sense of coherent thought.

The blond then saw, more than felt, as his own body picked the girl up off the ground and pulled her into an almost intimate embrace.

"Kya! What are you doing Naruto-kun?" The blue haired girl giggled playfully.

'That's what I'd like to know!' The shinobi mentally bellowed, forced to watch as his own body began to carry the short girl in his arms bridal style.

The blond's body kept walking methodically towards the school as the blue haired girl snuggled herself comfortably into his arms.

"Why aren't you wearing the academy uniform Naruto?" Kurumu suddenly asked curiously. It was a question that had been on her mind ever since she first set her sights on him.

"My set of the academy clothes were possessed by a vengeful spirit. A holy man had to douse them with a whole bucket of holy water and then seal the cursed clothes away for all of eternity." Naruto answered robotically.

Kurumu sweat-dropped.

-x-**X**-x-

(With Naruto's Clone)

"All I'm saying, is that givin' the right conditions, a toad could kick just about anyone's ass." The Naruto clone said boisterously, totally forgetting no one here was aware of summoned toads, which happened to be twenty stories tall.

Everyone within earshot sweat-dropped at that theory.

It was currently lunchtime, and the group of friends, excluding Mizore as they couldn't find her, were having their lunches on one of the outdoor tables that were set up near the edge of the forest. At some point no one could ever hope to tell you, the conversation somehow shifted into a 'who would win in a fight' scenario.

Tsukune decided to move the conversation along, not even wanting to know the blond's thought process for that last oddball comment. "Riiiight... Anyways, I've been meaning to ask you Yukari, but how exactly does your magic work?" The black haired boy asked curiously.

The young girl smiled and held up her wand. "Witches are able to cast magic by our ability to channel the power of nature." She stated informatively.

_That_ caught the blond clone's full attention, he hadn't heard that little tidbit of information before now. "Show me." he demanded a bit more forcefully then he meant to if the surprised looks of his friends were anything to go by. "Sorry. Please show me." The clone asked in a much softer tone.

"A-alright." Yukari nodded, slightly caught off guard at the blond's sudden intensity. She brought her wand out before her and levitated a nearby chair into the air.

The clone frowned, he couldn't immediately sense anything.

The group watched in curiosity as the blond closed his eyes and became almost unnaturally still. It was actually kind of unnerving seeing such an active person become so unmoving.

"Naruto-kun, are you alright?" Moka asked worriedly.

The blond didn't answer and remained unmoving for several more seconds before opening his eyes and looking at Yukari intently. The little witch blushed at the look that could almost be described as awe that was on the blond's face.

In reality, the blond had gathered just enough nature chakra so that he could temporarily sense his surrounding with more clarity without actually entering sage mode. It was something Naruto had been working on ever since Mizore managed to sneak up on him so successfully more than once.

Speaking of which, what the hell was she doing up in the tree to his left?...

Anyways, what he sensed from Yukari is what really blew his mind. She was actually channeling nature chakra! She was using it in a very indirect manner compared to him, but she was definitely directing the natural energy. Were all witches capable of this naturally?... It was almost like a race of demi-sages!

Just as the blond clone was about to swarm the little witch with one of the many questions on his mind, he sensed something that caught him totally off guard. His creator was heading in this direction and had some unknown chakra signature in his arms. Wasn't the boss supposed to be out training? Did he seriously find _another_ girl in trouble? Sometimes, even he couldn't believe his own luck. There was something weird about the boss's chakra though, almost like it was clouded or something...

Well shit... The boss had been trying to keep his abilities under wraps for as long as he could get away with it, and the sight of two identical blonds in the same spot would definitely raise a few questions...

The blond clone abruptly stood up, much to the surprise of his friends.

"I have to pee." The Naruto clone lied bluntly in a deadpan voice before quickly sprinting off without another word. Once the clone was out of sight, it promptly dispelled. The boss could handle whatever was going on.

Everyone sweat-dropped.

"I... I guess he really had to go?" Moka asked, more than a little bewildered.

Tsukune wordlessly nodded, still looking in the direction the clone had ran off.

"Moka Akashiya!" A haughty voice suddenly called.

The group turned to find a blank faced Naruto emerge from the forest with a short blue haired girl held in his arms bridal style.

The group simply stared at the scene in various states of shock and confusion for several seconds.

"What the hell? You just left in that direction!" A very confused Tsukune pointed in the opposite direction the blond and blue haired girl had came from.

Naruto's blank face didn't even twitch.

The blue haired girl ignored the black haired boy's outburst and all the curiously strong reactions to her presence, and continued her speech to Moka. "You're a vampire, right? At least that's what the rumors claim... My name is Kurumu Kurono and I am a succubus." The girl narrowed her eyes. "I have come to defeat you."

Temporarily putting all of the odd events that had just occurred out of her mind, Moka posed a question. "Isn't it against school rules to give away your true form?..."

"I can't stand it anymore!" Kurumu continued, pointing at Moka dramatically and totally ignoring the girl's question. "You're the biggest eyesore in the way of my great plan!"

"Plan?" Yukari asked, finding this whole situation almost surreal at this point.

Kurumu began chuckling to herself haughtily. "Yes, my plan is to make ever male student at this academy completely become my willing slaves! The Youkai Academy Harem Transformation Plan!"

Everyone sweat-dropped and stared at her in disbelief. _That_ was her master plan?

Naruto mentally face-palmed, because he still couldn't do it physically at the moment. 'Did I really get tricked by this idiot?...'

"My plan was perfect! I should have had every guy at the academy a slave to my beauty right from the start!" Kurumu began glaring at Moka at pointed at her again. "However, the boys at this academy are dreaming about you rather than me! I'm not letting you get away with this! I could never lose in a battle of feminine charm!"

The blue haired girl then smirked as she began to rub a hand up and down Naruto's chest. "That's why I've decided to prove I can defeat you... I'll show you I'm better than you! And I'll do it by claiming Naruto-kun here away from you!" The girl then proceeded to grab the back of Naruto's head and shove his face into the valley between her breasts.

Moka was surrounded by a dark aura and you could practically see the jealously and anger rolling off her in waves.

A few feet away, a tree was inexplicably flash-frozen.

Tsukune and Yukari simply stared at the unexpected scene with nosebleeds.

Naruto himself was on the fence about the situation. He didn't like being used like this, but he also wasn't about to complain about the new home his face had apparently found.

"Besides, he's just a food source to you isn't he? Is his blood delicious?" Kurumu asked mockingly.

Caught off guard and a little hurt at that accusation, Moka weakly defended herself. "N-no, Naruto-kun is my friend, I'm-"

Kurumu cut her off. "I don't care whatever your excuse is. Naruto-kun is mine now!" The blue haired girl brought her mouth next to Naruto's ear and whispered something the group couldn't hear. The girl then turned back to the group and winked. "I'm going to go make him mine forever, ta-ta for now!"

The blond suddenly turned on his heel and began to rapidly make his way back into the forest without a word.

"Wha! Naruto-kun what are you doing?" Moka shouted after his disappearing form in confusion. The blond wasn't acting like himself at all just now.

"What do you suppose she meant by 'make him mine forever'?" Tsukune posed the most prominent question on his mind after seeing all of that.

"I can think of a few possibilities..." Yukari trailed off with a nosebleed. Apparently the little witch was a bit of a pervert...

**'You need to act fast, Naruto is currently under the effects of a charm.' **An elegant voice suddenly reached Moka's ears.

"What?" Moka looked around rapidly, not recognizing the voice.

The others looked at her strangely. "What is is Moka?" Yukari asked.

"Didn't you hear that voice just now?" Moka questioned back, still looking around.

The rosary on Moka's chest visibly rose a few inches and a slitted eye appeared on the red gem in the center. **'Charm is a work of sorcery which turns the opposite sex into your willing slave.'**

Moka looked at her rosary in shock. "What's going on? A voice coming from the rosary?..."

**'I am another you.'** The voice calmly explained.** 'I'm using the rosary as a medium through which to talk to you from deep within your own psyche.'**

"Another me..." Moka muttered awed.

**'The succubus is a monster that seduces males. A charmed male who receives a kiss from a succubus is doomed to be her willing slave for all of eternity.' **Inner Moka explained seriously. **'While I sensed Naruto was slowly regaining control of himself, it will be all over if he receives a kiss before he breaks free. You need to hurry and find them.'**

Moka nodded understandingly and turned to her friends only to find them looking at her very oddly. They had only heard her side of that conversation.

"No time for me to explain it all, but if she kisses him, apparently Naruto-kun will become her slave for all of eternity!" Moka hurriedly elaborated.

"Then I guess we just have to prevent that from happening." Mizore's voice suddenly intoned calmly but dangerously as she dropped from her hidden perch in the tree and landed between Tsukune and Yukari, scaring the hell out of both of them.

Exchanging short nods with one another, the group took off towards the forest.

-x-**X**-x-

(In The Forest)

"Let Kurumu make you feel all better Naruto-kun..." The blue haired girl cooed as she rubbed her breasts against his chest. She was currently strattling the blond's lap and caressing his face almost lovingly while the boy had his back against a tree.

Naruto's body was twitching periodically as he was slowly but surely regaining enough movement in his body to put an end to this farce.

"Ya know, now that I see them up close, these whisker marks on your face are actually pretty cute." The girl muttered distractedly with a small blush as she softly caressed his cheeks. Kurumu could feel a small difference in his skin, while his cheek was mainly soft; the marks were rougher, making them almost feel like real whiskers.

Despite the situation, Naruto felt his own face heat up from the combination of her soft hands caressing him, causing his heart to speed up, and the unexpected compliment. He was pretty sure no one had ever complimented his facial marks like that before. People usually associated the whiskers with Kurama, given their very fox like quality, thinking they were a physical mark of his stigma, or that they thought they were simply clan markings. Which were so common back in Konoha that the weren't even worth mentioning. Either way, no one had ever said anything about them before as far as he could remember.

Kurumu began speaking again. "I definitely made the right choice in picking you to be my first kiss... Now, lets do this." With a racing heart, the girl cupped the sides of the blond's face and began bringing her lips towards the male's own.

Naruto mumbled something unintelligible causing Kurumu to blink and back off for a moment. "What?"

"I said..." Naruto practically growled. "I'm nobodies damn tool!" Naruto roared as he finally managed to bring his hands together behind the girl's waist and form the ram hand-sign. "Release!"

The next thing Kurumu knew, she was flat on her ass with a pissed off shinobi glaring down at her.

"Wah?... How did you break free like that?" The shocked blue haired girl asked.

"I was slowly whittling away at that damn genjutsu ever since you first used it on me. I only just now regained enough focus to form the damn release seal." Naruto grumpily answered.

While she wasn't sure what a few terms the blonde just spoke had meant, the girl understood the gist of what he was saying. "Why are you fighting against me like this?... Do you hate me that much? I promise I could make you happy!" The girl honestly seemed to think she could bring him joy.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and silently studied the girl for a few moments. After apparently finding whatever he was searching for in her eyes, his whole body visibly relaxed.

The blond sighed and ran a hand through his hair before looking at the girl sadly. "I don't think you're actually a bad person... You're just kind of a dumbass." He spoke bluntly and unapologetically.

"What!" The girl squawked at the blond's sudden lack of tact, quickly jumping to her feet and sending the boy a death glare.

Naruto continued, completely ignoring her glare. "You're going about this in completely the wrong way. Think about it, do you really want a love that's only based off of some dumb compulsion?" He asked seriously. "I don't know about you, but there isn't anything in this world that matters to me more than bonds." Naruto looked downwards and his eyes seemed to cloud over with countless memories. "All the wonderful memories I've shared with my precious people are what helps drive me to keep moving forward everyday."

The blond raised his head and looked at the blue haired girl dead in the eye. "The thought of something that special, being based solely off some fake feeling provided by a charm like that... That just sounds like a hollow hell to me..." He finished with a sad shake of the head.

Kurumu took a step back and looked at him with wide eyes. She had never really thought of it that way before. From a very young age she had been taught how to effectively win over men, and of the importance of doing such, as her entire race was slowly dying out. With the possibly impending fate of her kind always on the back of her mind, the blue haired girl had always thought the ends justified the means so as long as she found her Destined One. But now, after hearing the blond speak so passionately about the subject, she was beginning to question her own methods and what she really wanted...

Naruto leaned forward and cupped a hand on the side of his mouth, catching the blue haired girl's attention and breaking her from her thoughts. "Also, just between you and me, I'm not exactly known for my world class intellect either." Naruto admitted in an over dramatic whisper, actually drawing a small giggle from the girl.

The blond leaned back and extended a hand to the girl with a smile. "Listen, I don't really know anything about the romantic kind of love, but I _can_ offer you my friendship... You're gonna have to apologize to the others that you antagonized first though."

The girl simply stared at his extended hand for a several seconds before a smile slowly began to form on her face. She began to extend her own hand towards the blond's and opened her mouth to say something when a shout filled the air and interrupted her.

"Get away from Naruto-kun!" A pink blur screamed as it rushed into the clearing.

Kurumu turned and was caught like a deer in the headlights as Moka rushed to the blue haired girl and shoved her away from Naruto hard as she could.

Kurumu went flying at least fifteen yards and beyond some trees, putting the blue haired girl out of their line of sight.

Naruto simply gaped for a moment. He didn't think he'd ever get used to the fact that Moka had Sakura's crazy gorilla-like physical strength. Where did these girls get all that freakish strength?

Maybe it was the pink hair?...

"Oi! There was no need to do that! I pretty much had the situation resolved." Naruto finally voiced once he got over his surprise.

Mizore, Yukari and Tsukune arrived in the clearing just in time to catch that comment.

"Wha? But I thought... and she was... weren't you charmed?" Moka asked the blond, suddenly even more confused with the situation.

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, she did charm me, but we ended up talking and it turns out she's really not all that bad after all. In fact, I think-" Was all the blond was able to voice before a scream of rage tore through the clearing.

Kurumu _flew_ back into the clearing, literately, and she was looking quite pissed. The girl now had large bat-like wings sprouting from her back, extremely long and dangerous looking nails, elongated pointy elf-like ears, and a long thin tail coming from the base of her spine. The tail was slipping out from under her skirt and had what looked like a spade at it's tip.

"Alright Akashiya, you wanna go? I have no problem showing you who the better woman is!" Apparently the conversation she'd just had with Naruto was put on the back burner in favor of kicking Moka's ass.

Kurumu plummeted down in a low flying swoop towards the pinkett.

Before a hit could be landed, the succubus's claws were intercepted by similar ones made of ice. "Unfortunately for you, shes not the only one you have to contend with." Mizore informed coldly, standing between the succubus and her friends.

Naruto stepped forward and waved a hand. "Seriously there's no reason for you all to fight anymore!" The blond fruitlessly voiced, only to be promptly ignored as the girls engaged one another in a game of claw versus claw.

Naruto face-palmed. Maybe these girls were like him and Sasuke back in the good ol' days? Maybe they needed to beat the hell out of each other a little before they would ever listen to reason?

"Tsukune!" Moka worriedly called. "Please remove my rosary so I can help Mizore-chan!" She pleaded, rushing to the black haired boy.

"Oi! Now that's seriously going too far!" Naruto voiced a bit worried, the silver haired Moka was _waaay_ to much for Kurumu to handle.

Unfortunately, Tsukune had complied with Moka's request before the blond's words had reached him. The black haired boy turned to the shinobi and mouthed an apology as he held up the detached rosary.

Youki exploded throughout the clearing, bringing a sudden stop to all action and forcing everyone's attention towards the pink haired girl. In the same process as last time, the girl's hair turned silver, her eyes turned red, and her body became even more alluring.

Moka had transformed into her 'Inner' persona.

Yukari, Mizore and Kurumu stared in complete shock of the amount of youki the now silver haired girl was producing. This was their first time seeing this transformation.

Naruto noticed something he hadn't the first time. 'Her power... It only stays at that massive level during the initial release of her seal... Once the youki stabilizes, she's actually only using about half of her full power, _if that_.' Naruto glanced over at the rosary in Tsukune's hand. 'Is the seal somehow still affecting her even though it's no longer attached to her choker?' The blond considered asking Moka about it, but asking the prideful teen something like 'Is your power normally this low?' didn't seem like the wisest idea...

It sounded like a good way to needlessly get his ass kicked.

'Her power still completely dwarfs every other monster I've encountered though...' He mentally admitted as he watched the silver haired girl stride forward confidently.

Kurumu stepped forward and shouted. "Don't mess around with me, there's no way I could loose!" The blue haired girl yelled in false bravado, trying not to let it show just how unnerved the massive youki in the air was really making her. She then foolishly took to the air then swooped down towards the silver haired girl.

Moka merely smirked. **"You dare bare your fangs at me?... You frail egotistical woman..." **

As the blue haired girl was nearly upon her, the silver haired girl rushed forward and spun on one of her feet, bringing up her other leg with the intent of landing a devastating roundhouse kick to the airborne succubus's midsection. **"Realize your place!"**

Faster than anyone in the field could follow, an orange and yellow blur appeared between the two girls.

Kurumu blinked as she realized her arms were tightly held against her body and that she was being held under someone's arm like a piece of luggage.

Moka found her own eyes widening at the sight of Naruto standing before her with an arm raised. The silver haired girl's eyes then narrowed, the blond had just managed to stop her kick with his forearm. **'He is definitely not a normal... The force of a single one my strikes is enough to take down most monsters, let alone a human... For him to stop my kick so simply...'**

Unknown to her, despite the fact that his face remained calm and unchanging, the blonde was actually in a lot of pain at the moment. 'Fuck! It feels like she nearly snapped my arm into two just now! Note to self; _never,_ _ever_, block a strike from her directly _ever_ again!...'

After silently pushing the pain to the back of his mind, the blond spoke. "That's enough girls." He said calmly but firmly, never breaking eye contact with Moka.

"**What are you doing Naruto?"** Moka asked, staring at the blond intently. Although she was annoyed at him stopping her attack, the simple fact that he _could_ made the boy suddenly much more interesting.

"Stopping this fight, I thought it was obvious." Naruto said as he helped Kurumu down and let the girl stand on her own two feet.

The silver haired girl raised an eyebrow. **"What are you playing at? Was this not the woman who attempted to use you like a tool for her own ends?" **She asked, gesturing towards Kurumu.

Said blue haired girl was looking rather ashamed of herself at the moment.

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "As I was trying to tell you before this entire pointless fight began, I already forgave her for that."

Moka's other eyebrow shot up. **"**_**Really**_**?" **She asked amused.

Naruto looked at Kurumu. "She's just a girl who made a mistake..." The succubus struggled not to noticeably fidget under the intensity of the shinobi's gaze. It made her feel like a naughty child being looked at by a disappointed parent. "Making mistakes goes hand in hand with being alive." The blond continued in a tone that conveyed far more wisdom than one would ever expect from a teenager.

Naruto released a dry chuckle. "I know that I've certainly made more than my fair share of mistakes in my lifetime." He then smirked and began in a lighter tone. "Besides, some of my best friends started out as my enemies when I first met them! Hell, I can't think of a friend who _hasn't_ tried to kill me at some point!" The blond finished with a over dramatic flourish of his hands.

Everyone sweat-dropped at that casual admission.

Moka silently studied the shinobi for several seconds before responding. **"I've said this before, but I feel it needs reiteration; you are a very odd man... I don't believe I've ever met anyone else quite like you." **The silver haired girl's eyes narrowed. **"I honestly can't tell if you're wise, or if you're extremely foolish... It's rather vexing really..."**

Naruto grinned widely and threw his hands behind his head in response. "It's definitely the foolish one!"

Despite herself, Moka found the corners of her lips twitching upwards in amusement. **"Hmph, indeed."** The silver haired teen then proceeded to wordlessly retrieve her rosary from Tsukune before half-turning back towards the blond. **"Till next time, Naruto." **She uttered in a voice that almost had a hint of fondness in it.

She reattached the rosary and reverted to the pink haired Moka, falling forward into a startled Tsukune's arms.

Naruto sent the black haired boy a short nod and turned to succubus while unconsciously rubbing his sore arm. "Are you alright? You didn't get hurt in that little scuffle did you?"

Kurumu looked at Naruto in a awe. "N-no, I'm fine... I'll be fine. Thank you for asking." She said in a tone more subdued than he had ever heard from the girl.

The bell marking the end of the class period reached their ears from the school.

"Oh! We need to hurry and get back or we're going to be later for class!" Yukari shouted, already running back towards the school.

Mizore, Naruto and Tsukune exchanged looks and decided they should probably follow the little witch's lead.

Naruto turned to follow but hesitated. "Are you gonna be okay on your own?" He asked the succubus.

The girl was touched at his concern. "No I'll be fine. I think I'm gonna stay out here a while and think about something." She said while giving him a look he couldn't quite decipher.

"Well, alright. I'll see you later, okay?" The blond nodded before running off after his friends.

The blue haired girl watched him until he was out of sight.

"My Destined One..."

-x-**X**-x-

(A Few Hours Later)

"So you have an alternate personality, and the voice of that 'other you' has started talking to you through your rosary?" Yukari asked, making sure she understood the situation.

School had ended a few minutes before and the whole group was walking together back towards the dorms.

"Yeah..." Moka nodded somewhat hesitantly. "It's strange isn't it? I wonder if this means that the seal is weakening?..." She voiced somewhat worriedly.

Naruto looked at the rosary on Moka's chest contemplatively. 'I wonder how exactly that seal works? I'm not on Pervy Sage's level when it comes to fuuinjutsu, but I know _a lot_ more than most shinobi. Maybe I'll take a look at her seal sometime...'

"Naruto-kun." Moka called, drawing said boy's attention outward. "If it comes to the point where the seal doesn't work anymore... you would still like me... right?" She asked him shyly.

Naruto smiled softly. "Moka-chan... You're stuck with me till the end. Not a damn thing in this world, especially something as trivial as your seal breaking, is going to change that fact." He declared unwaveringly.

With tears welling up in her eyes, Moka glomped Naruto with a big hug. "Oh Naruto-kun!"

Mizore had to fight to control her annoyance and jealousy at the scene.

The group walked in companionable silence for a few seconds after that.

"By the way Naruto, how did you move so fast in the forest earlier today?" Tsukune asked partly in awe and partly in bewilderment.

Naruto stared at him for a moment before answering. "I simply channeled a bit of my inner-awesome." Naruto answered blandly.

Everyone sweat-dropped.

Before Tsukune could press for a real answer, a voice shouted, catching the group's attention.

"Naruto-kun!"

The group turned to find the succubus that had caused so many problems earlier in the day, standing in front of them with a small basket filled with cookies in her hands and a big smile on her face.

"Eh! What are you doing here?" Yukari shouted, drawing her wand getting ready for a potential fight. Similarly Mizore quickly formed her ice claws and took a defensive stance.

Tsukune and Moka stared at the girl warily, waiting for an explanation.

Naruto simply stared at her with a smile, idly wondering what those cookies must taste like.

"Would you like some cookies that I baked, Naruto-kun?" Kurumu asked with a cute tilt of the head

"Hell yes I would!" He agreed happily.

This girl must have read his mind!

"Why are you doing this?" Mizore asked the blue haired girl with narrowed eyes.

Kurumu glanced at the purple haired girl and all the others around her, her gaze stopping on the blond for several seconds before looking down at her feet.

Said blond was currently shoveling cookies into his mouth at an alarming rate.

"Us succubi seek a 'Destined Encounter' among the men we tempt..." The blue haired girl began. "In order to keep our small species from dying out, we must carefully pick one man from out of many to be our one and only 'Destined One'.

"W-what does that have to do with Naruto-kun?..." Moka asked warily, a feeling a dread welling up in her stomach, already having a guess where this was going.

The succubus cradled her cheek in a hand as a blush began to stain her face. "After everything that happened earlier, I've decided, that without a doubt... Naruto-kun is my Destined One!"

At the declaration, several things happened simultaneously:

The air suddenly became several degrees colder around Mizore.

Yukari actually dropped her wand in surprise.

Moka locked the blue haired girl with a glare that could burn through metal.

Tsukune began to choke and sputter on one of the cookies that Naruto had handed him.

Naruto dropped the now empty basket and the cookie in his hand was completely crushed as he stared at the succubus with wide eyes.

The blue haired girl then rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Naruto's torso, burying her face into his chest. "The things you said to me... the way you stood up for me and protected me... I've totally fallen for you!"

Moka and Mizore felt their jealousy and annoyance reach new levels and were about to let it be known, but something stopped them cold.

Naruto's body language was practically screaming that something was wrong.

The blond's entire body tensed and his hair shadowed his eyes.

After a moment the blond placed his hands on the girl's shoulders and gently eased her off of himself. "Kurumu." The blond began softly.

"W-what is it?" The blue haired girl asked almost fearfully, something about his demeanor was really worrying.

"I'll happily be your friend until the end... But I can't give you what you want. Especially If you only get one of these 'Destined Ones' in your entire life. I'm just not the right choice." The blond said in an almost remorseful tone, suddenly having a very haggard appearance.

"W-what? Why not!" She asked with tears welling up in her eyes. Not tears of rejection, but tears for him. Something about him right now was just so very... _sad_, and it was really getting to her.

"Because I-" He suddenly stopped as if something was caught in his throat. "Look, it's just not a good idea." The blond said, looking like he was mad at himself.

"B-but..." Kurumu began, with tears now leaking from her eyes, only to stop as Naruto gave her a pat on the shoulder and began to walk away from the stunned group.

"Just forget about me and move on." He said with a wave over his shoulder. "I'm not worth it..."

A deafening silence filled the air as everyone stood rooted in place as they watched the blond walk away.

"Wha-what was that all about?" Yukari asked, trying to dissuade the tension in the air.

"I don't know." Tsukune said oddly serious. "You all saw it though, right?"

The girls all turned to him, obviously wanting to know what he meant.

Tsukune sighed. "I'm not sure why he said all that... but I've never seen such a sad look in his eyes before. He almost looked... haunted."

The group looked in the direction the blond left.

'Naruto-kun...'

-x-**X**-x-

(With Naruto – Boys Dorm)

Naruto tightly shut his eyes as unbidden memories assaulted his mind.

"_I want you to promise me Hinata... promise me you'll find someone to love you. Someone who will make you happy..."_

"_B-but Naruto-kun..." The girl spoke weakly._

"_Hinata, thank you. Thank you for telling me that you loved me. I'm sorry for never really saying that before now... But you know why we can't ever be together anymore... Now... please... promise me you'll find yourself true happiness."_

_With tears falling from her eyes the girl nodded solemnly. "I... I promise Naruto-kun..."_

_The blond pulled the sobbing girl into a hug. "I... I'm sorry you and I will never get a chance to ever try one of those 'date' things... I guess I really am just a screw up in the end..."_

_The girl shook her head and spoke into his ear with surprising firmness. "No. Never blame yourself Naruto-kun... You did what you had to... I'll always believe in you. Just make sure you continue to believe in yourself..."_

That had been the last time he'd seen her since the war.

Naruto truly hoped she had moved on, it had been nearly half a year now...

This whole thing with Kurumu left him in a foul mood. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt the girl, but he just couldn't give her the future that she wanted...

Not even the sight of his loud dorm-neighbor running down the hall covered in feathers and maple syrup screaming something along the lines of 'monkeys everywhere!' was able to knock him from his current funk.

He knew he had made the right choice.

He made the right choice with Hinata back then, and he made the right choice with Kurumu here and now. At least that was the mantra he kept telling himself...

Then why did he feel like such a bastard right now?...

* * *

**_AN:_ Now you know what I meant about the romance situation being more complicated than it seemed at first glance. It's not just that multiple girls are gunning for him, but Naruto himself has his own issues in the way as well. **

**I did say it would _eventually_ be Naruto/Harem.**

**I'm half expecting a shit-storm of negative reviews from this particular aspect of the story, but it was part of the plot I planned from before I ever started the actual writing. Let me just say a few things before you crucify me: **

**First, this will be the last _major_ aspect of the story I'll be _this_ secretive about. Second, _Naruto has a valid reason for his actions_, and I promise it's not something stupid, like a 'Jinchuuriki don't deserve love' mentality (I actually read that in a story once XD). And third, have a little faith. I think I've proven I'm not a _completely_ crap-tastic author by this point. If you've liked my story so far, then you'll probably still keep liking it. My writing style won't change and the group's dynamics won't be altered _that_ significantly either.**

**Exactly _why_ Naruto is acting this way will be revealed later on. I've actually already left several subtle hints for his actions, but like I said, it will be blatantly revealed later in the story. **

**Anyways, have a nice day folks. **

_**Read / Review**_

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	4. High Tide

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Rosario+Vampire or anything else mentioned in this story. Everything belongs to their respective licenses holders. I do however own a backyard that I was too lazy to mow for a month. As I was doing a sweep through the yard for dog toys, to make sure they didn't get caught up in the lawnmower's blades, I heard a loud hiss right next to my ear. My fight or flight instinct kicked in and I immediately sprung into action... by choosing to run like a scared little girl._

_When I managed to gather some dignity (after being forced to turn in my man card of course), it turned out to be a harmless garter snake. The worst one of those little guys will do to you is stink up your hand._

_He was a cute little bastard too. I like to imagine he's off terrorizing more people at this very moment..._

* * *

**Chasing Shadows**

**Chapter Four :**_** High Tide **_

* * *

"Are you a eunuch?" Kurumu asked Naruto bluntly.

The blond sprayed his drink all over the table.

After a few seconds of coughing and sputtering, trying to clear his airway of liquid, the shinobi finally managed to answer. "What? NO!... _Hell no_! I'll have you know I'm fully intact and perfectly functioning down there! Better than perfect even! I'm the damn pinnacle of masculinity!" A red faced Naruto roared in embarrassment and bravado.

Kurumu frowned. "Well I know you're not gay... I've caught you staring at my body far too many times..." She muttered to herself contemplatively, ignoring Naruto's blush and weak denials of such a thing. The succubus smirked and leaned forward, squeezing her breasts together in a very enticing manner. "Why in the world would you turn 'all this' down?"

Naruto's face flushed even darker and he quickly looked the other way. "Look, I told you before, it's just not a very good idea..." He said with a small wince. He had repeated that line more times this week than he cared to admit.

"Argg! Sometimes you're just so freakin stubborn Naruto!" Kurumu growled before leaving the table in a huff.

Naruto sighed sadly to himself as he watched her leave.

This week had officially sucked.

Naruto had been expecting, or perhaps more accurately _hoping_, that Kurumu would follow his advice and move on from him as a candidate for her Destined One. That didn't happen in the least. All week the girl had relentlessly tried to learn what his hangup was, while simultaneously trying to win his affections, and all week he'd been dodging a real answer and giving vague half-assed responses.

It made him ponder which was crueler; to give her false hope for something that would never happen, or crush the dreams of a girl that seemed to care for him?...

He had considered simply disappearing from her life and hoping she and the others would simply forget about him with time... but he was still at this place for a reason, even if it was one he didn't fully understand himself... Well, that, and he didn't think he would ever have to heart to do something like that to his friends... he actually felt like shit for even contemplating it.

Then there was the other issue...

The whole week there had been an undefinable sense unease in the air for the whole group, and it made Naruto feel terrible, because he knew he was the cause of it.

It was an elephant in the room that no one seemed to acknowledge.

While no one had came out and said anything, a rift seemed to have formed between Naruto and the others...

Particularly with Moka and Mizore.

Moka was perfectly friendly with him, but she was less bubbly and there was a sense of sadness in her eyes when she talked to him. As for Mizore, he'd hardly even seen her this week, but when he did, she just seemed... more detached than normal.

All in all, Naruto felt like a complete heel.

He racked his brain, trying to figure a way to make this situation better without actually revealing why he couldn't accept any form of romance. Revealing the truth would only make things even more complicated...

In the words of an old friend... Troublesome.

Naruto was knocked from his thoughts and began heading for class when he heard the bell sounding, marking the start of the school day.

Hopefully he could think of something to fix the situation, or at least cut some of the tension in the air, during class...

-x-**X**-x-

(Homeroom)

"Well then, everyone, this academy's goal is to train monsters to adapt to human society... Just as I've been saying all along..." Naruto's homeroom teacher, Shizuka, began talking to her class. "So that means... Starting today, you're all going to take up club activities!" The sandy-blonde informed her class cheerfully.

Naruto raised his head from his desk and lifted a sleepy eyelid in interest. 'What's this now?...' He was familiar with the concept of clubs in civilian schools from Ayame, the waitress at his favorite place in the world, but it was not something that he had ever experienced firsthand. School clubs were not something practiced in the Shinobi Academy.

"We'll get a deeper understanding of humans by experiencing human-made activities through some sweat in club activities! To transform into humans perfectly, we must have a clear understanding of humans!" Shizuka continued her speech while pointing at a crude drawing depicting the correlation between club activities and being more human-like.

It was something that caused Naruto to snort to himself silently. He was human, and he'd never been in any sort of school club... It was sometimes a very odd and surreal experience to see all the students (and to some extent, the teachers as well) struggle to understand what it meant to be human; something that was literally as easy as simply existing for him.

A random boy raised his hand. "Uh.. umm, Sensei?..."

"Yes?" The sandy-blonde asked with a smile.

"But... Sensei, wouldn't that give you an 'F' in transformation then?" The boy asked with an amused smile, pointing at the tail that was visibly wagging behind her.

Shizuka looked between her tail and the boy several times before stepping forward and clawing the boy's face with an almost playful sounding 'rawwr!'.

"Does everyone understand? Everyone will participate in club activities!" Shizuka continued, as if she never stopped talking, ignoring the unlucky student's shout of surprise and pain.

The entire class sweat-dropped.

'Note to self: Don't piss her off.' Naruto thought to himself silently with a sweat-drop, warily eying his teacher.

"Everyone please visit a lot of groups and decide which one you want to enter!" Shizuka continued, as if she hadn't just assaulted a student. "Be sure to visit the Newspaper Club, which I happen to be the advisor for, okay?" The sandy-blonde finished with a shameless plug.

-x-**X**-x-

(Hallway)

"Wow, they really went all out, didn't they?.." Naruto muttered with a hint of awe. Beside him Tsukune, Moka and Mizore shared a similar sentiment.

The entire hall was filled with a large swarm of students all looking at the banners and booths set up in order to attract new members for their respective clubs. The very air itself was filled with a certain sense of excitement.

From beside the blond Tsukune smiled widely as he took in the sights. "Isn't it awesome? I bet every group has someone advertising here!"

"What group should we join?" Moka asked her friends, just as excited as the black haired boy.

"I wonder if they have a ramen appreciation club?..." Naruto loudly mumbled to himself, inadvertently answering the pink haired girl's question and drawing sweat-drops from his friends.

"How about the swimming club? My parents made me take swimming classes until grade school... They said it was for my health or something..." Tsukune suggested, saying the last part more to himself.

"Err... but I..." Moka responded, surprisingly nervous. "It's still too early to decide! Let's visit a lot of clubs since they've gone to all this trouble!" She pointed in a random direction and took off.

"Ahh! Wait up Moka!" Tsukune shouted, running after the pink haired girl.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and began to follow after the two. 'The hell was with that reaction from Moka-chan?...'

"It's because she's a vampire." Mizore said from beside him, answering his silent question and slightly startling the blond, as he'd forgotten she was there for a moment.

Sometimes she was too silent for her own good.

The blond turned to her interested. "What does her race have to do with it?" He asked confused.

"Vampires are weak to water. I've heard that even a splash of it can weaken them and cause a great deal of pain." Mizore explained informatively.

"_Really_?... That's good to know..." Naruto mumbled in a strange tone, surprised that such a high profile S-class race had such an exploitable weakness.

When the blond and purple haired girl caught up, a creepy looking guy with a camera and oily looking black hair was approaching Moka. "So beautiful... Moka-san... you must become a model!"

"Hm?" Moka hummed innocently in response.

"Join the photography club! Please let us take lots of pictures of you! Are nude photos okay?..." He asked creepily.

That somehow seemed to open the floodgates and more and more people swarmed around Moka and Tsukune, trying to recruit the beautiful pink haired girl to their respective clubs.

"Moka-san, you must join the chemistry club! Let's make lots of magic love powder together!"

"Join the acupuncture club!"

"The mummy club!"

The crowd froze however as they noticed the blond that had appeared at her side and had a rather menacing aura around him.

"She's not interested." Naruto said curtly for Moka, his piercing glare making it clear that pushing the issue would be a bad idea.

The crowd bolted away from the group, it was well known by this point that the blond was rather protective when it came to his friends and wasn't shy about beating people up to get the point across.

"Jackasses..." Naruto mumbled to himself as the group began walking towards more stalls.

Despite the tension that had been between them all week, Moka shot the blond a small thankful smile which Naruto returned with a big grin.

After walking around for at least half an hour, finding nothing but creepy or dangerous clubs, Tsukune threw his arms up in the air in frustration.

"Don't they have any normal clubs at this school?..." Tsukune asked tiredly as they weaved through the crowd.

"Cheer up Tsukune! I'm sure we'll find something by the end of the day!" Moka tried to encourage the black haired boy.

"What about the swimming club?" A smooth feminine voice intoned.

The group turned to find a beautiful girl with long flowing light green hair and striking golden eyes. She was wearing a purple bikini that did nothing to hide the fact that she had a very curvy body.

"I'm the swimming club captain, Tamao Ichinose." She stepped forward and placed a hand on Tsukune's chest. "Why don't we swim together?" she asked with a coy smile.

Tsukune blushed and sputtered under the attention of the beautiful female. He then noticed all the other swimsuit clad girls tailing behind their captain.

Many male shouts of approval filled the air at the sight.

"Oh! It's the swimming club!"

"Those swimsuits are hot!"

"All the girls are cute too!"

Tamao slid her hands around Tsukune's shoulders. "The swimming club is all female... All the ladies will end up paying lots of s_pecial attention_ to the boy who joins our club..." She whispered into the black haired boy's ear.

As Tsukune's mind was struggling to process the sudden attention he was receiving, many shouts from the nearby males filled the air.

"Me! Me! I'll join!"

"Me too!"

"I wanna swim with you!"

Decision long since made that he wanted to join as well, Tsukune turned to his friends to ask what they thought. "What do you think Naruto?" Tsukune asked, as the blond had been the closest to him last he looked. However, he blinked and looked around when he couldn't spot the blond.

"Naruto-kun!" Moka shouted into the crowd, also noticing the distinct lack of a crazy blond haired boy in their little group.

"I'll find him." Mizore said simply, silently slipping into the crowd and vanishing before the others could say anything.

Tsukune felt a soft hand placed on his chest, instantly drawing his attention.

"I'm sure your friend will be fine. Come on, let's go swim together..." She cooed, taking the black haired boy's hands into her own and leading him towards the school pool.

Moka stood rooted in place for a moment, unsure as to is she should follow Tsukune, or follow Mizore's example and search for Naruto.

Things were still a bit awkward for her when she was around Naruto. She knew in her heart that she wanted something much more than friendship from the blond, but he had made it rather clear that he thought it was a bad idea a week ago. It left her feeling sad and confused on what she should do... Could she somehow change his mind, or was he already a lost cause like he had claimed?...

After a minute she decided she better go with the black haired boy, he might need her help if something happened.

Naruto and Mizore would be able to handle whatever may come up on their end.

After all, the blond boy had proven time and time again to be surprisingly resilient for a human...

-x-**X**-x-

(With Naruto)

'Best. Day. Ever!' Naruto thought to himself with a big grin.

"Keep it comin' this stuff ain't no ramen, but I'll admit it's pretty damn good!" Naruto shouted with a large grin, several empty bowls stacked next to him.

"Sure thing cutie." A girl with short green hair batted her eyelashes at the blond.

Naruto had been rather startled when he found he had somehow ended up separated from his friends, but he decided to let it go. Maybe some time apart would actually help clear the air?... Besides, he'd spent all week feeling sorry for himself and trying to fix the situation, he deserved to be a little selfish and just have some fun during this fair-like recruiting shindig.

His friends and himself would likely all end up joining the same club in the end anyways, so it really didn't matter if he took advantage of this crazy recruiting event and have some funsies.

And make the most of it he certainly did.

He had played games with the Basketball Club, drooled to himself as a Cheerleading Club put on a performance for him, shot targets with the Archery Club, had his mind completely blown when he discovered the Video Game Club, had a fun spar with a nice guy from the Muay Thai club, laughed his ass off at the presence of a 'Shinobi Appreciation Club', and several other really cool experiences... Hell, at one point he even inadvertently ended up in some kind of breakdancing competition!

He eventually found himself in front of some kind of cooking club for exotic foods set up in the cafeteria. The girls manning the stall practically started shoving food in his face, trying to catch the interest of the 'Mysterious Hottie' as he had apparently been dubbed by many of the female students; much to his silent annoyance.

All of the girls attempts at flirting with him failed horribly, as Naruto was too dense to realize these girls even _were_ flirting with him in the first place.

What he was eating was apparently some sort of swamp monster delicacy, which sounded kind of horrifying, but it was actually really good. The blond was already on his twelfth bowl of the stuff when a shout caught his attention.

"Hey you!"

Naruto wiped his mouth and turned to see a group of ten teenagers, eight boys and two girls, all wearing matching hakama and all sporting bokken.

Naruto blinked and looked around the area, but spotted no one noticeably responding to the words. The blond hesitantly turned back to them group and pointed at himself questioningly while sporting a very confused face.

"Yes, you!" The one in the front, who appeared to be the leader, answered irritatedly.

Naruto raised and eyebrow. "Can I help you?..."

"We, the Yokai Academy Kendo Club, challenge you!" The leader stepped forward and pointed his wooden sword at the blond. The leader was rather short but musclebound, and had slicked back black hair and intense purple eyes.

"Why?" Naruto asked in a deadpan.

Seriously, what the hell did he do to piss someone off this time? He was just minding his own damn business and having a nice meal!

"The rumors surrounding you are crap!" The short boy declared hotly. "I don't believe for a second you're even half as strong as the rumors claim, in fact I bet you're just a weakling! I will defeat you and prove how strong my club is!"

Ugg. So now people were challenging him just to build up their own reputations?... He seriously hoped this would be a one time thing, this was _already_ turning into a pain in the ass.

"No." Naruto answered the challenge bluntly and turned back to his food.

"No!" The club leader jerked back as if punched, apparently having never even considered the possibility of the blond refusing his challenge. "What the hell do you mean no?!"

"I mean _no_. I don't have any reason to fight you, and I don't really feel like indulging some random jackass's ego today. So, ya know, piss off and all that." The blond uttered between spoonfuls of his food, sending a 'shoo' motion towards the group.

The leader roared in rage and started sprinting at the blond with his wooden sword held up high.

The shinobi sighed and reached forward, pulling a large metal ladle still covered in a thick stew out of a pot in front of him, then calmly turned to the kind girls that had been feeding him for the past several minutes.

"Would you ladies mind if I borrowed this for a moment?" Naruto asked kindly with a smile.

The girl closest to him blushed and muttered "Go right ahead."

As the short boy lashed out with his sword, Naruto simply turned around on his stool then simultaneously caught the wooden sword with one hand and lashed our with the ladle with his other hand, hitting the black haired boy across the face.

The leader staggered back and clutched his nose. He pulled his hand back and looked down at it, seeing it was now covered in stew and his own blood,

The short boy glared hatefully at the shinobi.

"Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!" The Kendo captain hissed angrily.

Naruto paused and looked at him incredulously. Did he really just say that?...

"Everyone attack him at once! All that matters is that we defeat him, it doesn't matter _how_ we do it!" The leader roared to his comrades before rushing back towards the blond.

Naruto quickly slid out of the booth and ducked under the leader's angry swing. The blond grabbed the front of the leader's shirt and pulled him into a bone-jarring headbutt before simply picking the short boy up with one arm and throwing him over his shoulder, where he landed face-first into a nearby trashcan.

The blond turned and was forced to duck as a wooden sword sailed over the spot his head had just been. Before he could counterattack, another sword sailing for his midsection forced him to cartwheel out of the way. When he stood back up he immediately had to parry several rapid strikes from all angles with his makeshift weapon.

After a few seconds of the rapid exchange of strikes one of the boys made a rookie mistake and put far too much power into a swing that Naruto had simply sidestepped, He was rewarded with unconsciousness as a powerful fist buried itself in his gut.

The shinobi immediately backpedaled as several angry sword swings came at him and one of the girls seemed to go completely berserk on him with her rapid wild strikes. That must have been her boyfriend he'd just knocked out or something...

Seeing some stew still at the end of his ladle, the blond lashed out towards the girl's face with a strike he knew she would easily stop. The girl indeed stopped the attack, but was unprepared and caught off guard by the thick stew that flew into her eyes and temporarily blinded her. Before she could worry about it too much, there was a quick stinging sensation on her neck and she was sent into blissful unconsciousness.

Naruto gently lowered the girl to the ground and pried the wooden sword from her hand. While he was a shinobi, trained not the discriminate between enemies, that an enemy was an enemy... he never liked hitting girls. Call it chivalry or even sexism, but it had always particularly bugged him to see a woman in pain. Especially when he was the cause of it.

Another reason why this week had sucked so much.

Great. He just depressed himself again...

Naruto was instantly broken from his musing as four of the boys lashed out at him with their swords. Naruto simply raised the bokken he had gotten from the fallen girl and stopped all four strikes with one arm. With a grunt, the blond pushed the same arm skyward and knocked all four boys off balance. Quick as lightning, the shinobi shot forward and landed rapid devastating blows with the ladle in one hand, and wooden sword in the other.

With cries of pain all four opponents fell to the ground.

Hearing a shout, Naruto turned to see another boy foolishly charging him head on. Naruto glanced to the stall next to him and grinned. Reaching a hand over the counter, he grabbed a handful of flour and in one fluid motion, flung it in his attackers face.

The boy sputtered and dropped his sword, bringing his hands to his eyes and rubbing at them furiously.

His inattention earned him a roundhouse kick to the face.

From his blind spot, the second female of the group took a grand swing at the back of the blond's head. Naruto simply ducked under, twirled around, then used the girl's own momentum to send her flying over his shoulder and into a nearby banner. The shinobi quickly sprinted over and tied the tangled banner around the girl tightly.

Said girl was currently shouting some very colorful and unladylike words at him.

Naruto turned and smiled in a feral manner at the final kendo member that was left standing. Said boy roared in outrage and picked up one of his fallen ally's weapons before charging at the blond.

Naruto reached behind him, grabbing ahold of something slimy, then quickly spun on his the balls of his feet and lashed out at his attackers face. A loud slap sound echoed throughout the area as the boy was hit across the face with a very large dead fish. The force of the blow was strong enough to lift the kendo member off his feet, in the process the wooden swords flying from his hands, and send him in a rapid barrel roll to the ground, where he laid unmoving.

Naruto blinked and looked behind him to see he was in front of the stall for some kind of fishing club.

The blond chuckled and grinned to himself. Sometimes... things just worked out grandly.

"Did... did you just knock someone out by slapping them with a fish?..." A random bystander asked in disbelief and awe. Everyone in the cafeteria was staring at the blond in amazement.

"You're damn right I did." Naruto confirmed with a cocky grin, dramatically pointing to the crowd and looking extremely proud of himself.

"You... you bastard!" An almost primal voice roared in outrage.

Naruto turned to see the leader had dug himself out of the trash and was glaring bloody daggers at him. "I didn't start this. You have only yourself to blame for this result." The blond reproved bluntly. None of this would have happened if this ass didn't want to boost his own reputation.

The short teenager simply glared as his body began to grow black fur and his very bones seemed to shift and pop. His eyes began to glow and become slitted and his teeth turned into terrifyingly long fangs and he grew massive deadly looking claws.

When the transformation was complete, he stood nearly a foot taller, putting him at Naruto's height, and looked to be some kind of humanoid panther.

"I'm done! No one makes a fool of me! I'm going to destroy you right now and that will be the end of it!" With that, the kendo captain shot forward at speeds far greater than Naruto had seen from anyone at this school up to this point.

Naruto threw the ladle into the air towards the kendo club leader in a long arc, then quickly grabbed two of the wooden swords lying on the ground and sprinted directly for the panther man with a wooden blade held reverse-grip in each hand.

What happened next was too fast for the eyes of anyone watching.

It seemed as if the panther man and Naruto simply appeared on opposite sides from where the had been standing, both crouched and unmoving.

A full second later, the wooden swords in Naruto's hands exploded in a shower of splinters and the panther man's eyes rolled into the back of his skull and he crashed face-first into the ground.

Naruto exhaled, dropped the handles of the former wooden swords, and stood up. 'He was fast. Maybe even a bit faster than most chunin, but he had nothing on the people I've fought.' The shinobi admitted to himself.

Without even looking, Naruto raised a hand and caught the ladle that had been airborne the entire showdown, it had ended it's flight in the very spot he stood. The blond then turned to the stunned crowd with a smirk. "Don't worry. Those chills going down your spines? Those'll go away in a couple minutes."

The crowd stared in silence for a few more seconds before the crowd erupted into a storm of cheers.

"That was so freakin awesome!"

"Where the hell did you learn to do all that! You didn't even use your monster form!"

"Train me!"

"Whoa! Maybe there really is something to all the rumors about this guy!"

"Marry me!"

"Please, let me bear your children!"

Naruto sent them a smile and a wave, but ignored them, especially the ones with the more disturbing requests, and walked back to the stall with the nice girls that were feeding him.

Naruto held the handle of the ladle out to the girl whom he had asked if he could use it in the first place. "Here ya go, thanks for letting me use it." He said with a simple smile.

The girl stared stunned with wide eyes and wordlessly took the handle from his hand.

Just as Naruto was about to sit back down and enjoy the rest of his meal, two blurs blurs slammed into his sides, with arms quickly wrapping around him in a hug. "Naruto-kun that was amazing!"

"Kurumu-chan, Yukari-chan?" The blond questioned soon as he good a look at what had latched onto him.

Kurumu let go and stepped back but took one of his hands into her own. She looked up at him in adoration. "That really was incredible Naruto-kun. I didn't know you could fight like that!"

With his other hand, the blond scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I can hold my own when I need to." He admitted bashfully.

Still not releasing him from her arms, Yukari looked up at him with wide eyes. "Where _did_ you learn to fight like that? I've never heard of a monster who could move that fast without transforming. Are... are you some kind of boundary being too?" She asked almost hopefully.

Naruto could see this obviously meant a lot to her, so he decided to give her a real answer. "I learned to fight like that through trial and error really. I've been training and fighting ever since I was six... As for me being a boundary being... I suppose that's all a matter of perspective."

Just as the little witch was going to ask for him to explain, screaming filled the air.

"The swimming club is draining the male members of energy!"

"They're all mermaids!"

"They were just harvesting male students!"

The three stared in bewilderment as the weight of the words slowly set it. A voice sounded from right behind them, scaring all three.

"We need to get to that pool _right now_. Tsukune and Moka were talking with that swimming club's captain when I last saw them."

They turned to find Mizore looking in the direction of the pool with a worried face.

"What! Crap, lets move!" Naruto shouted, immediately sprinting off in the indicated direction.

The three girls exchanged quick glances and took off after the blond.

"Wait up Naruto-kun!"

-x-**X**-x-

(School Pool)

"Huh. Well this is bad." Naruto blandly commented as the group reached the poolside.

The entire pool was in chaos. Boys were desperately trying to swim away from the many mermaids swarming the waters like predators hunting prey. The group witnessed as one unlucky boy was caught and two of the mermaids sank their teeth into his arms. The teenage boy's hair turned gray and his entire body seemed to rapidly age until he resembled a very old man.

"Tsukune!" A shout drew their attention, they spotted Moka running towards the pool.

"Ahh! Moka, what are you doing back here? It's dangerous for you to be near water isn't it? I'm sorry for ever dragging you here!..." Tsukune called sorrowfully.

"If I don't do anything, you're going to be killed." She declared with determined eyes, sprinting towards the edge of the pool and leaping into the air with her hands held out before her in a diving position.

All her friends eyes widened in horror. A vampire jumping into a large source of water? What was she thinking! "Moka! Nooo!"

In that moment, Naruto _moved_.

In the blink of an eye Naruto crossed at least twenty feet and seemed to simply appear next to Moka, wrapping an arm around her airborne waist and totally stopping her momentum.

"Wha!" the girl gasped, not knowing what was going on. A voice she instantly recognized as her blond crush's then reached her ears. "Geez, and people call _me_ bull-headed... At least I never literately leaped into a substance that could kill me..." He said with a shake of the head. 'Although... I'd probably do just that in a heartbeat in order to save a friend.' The blond admitted to himself, but chose not to voice.

"Naruto-kun!" She cried happily, turning to him with tears welling up in her eyes. "Let me go! I have to save Tsukune!"

After setting the girl down, the blond's response was to flick her across the forehead, eliciting a surprised yelp from the girl.

"Water equals bad to your race. There's no way in hell you're going in there." Naruto told her sternly.

"B-but... Tsukune..." The pinkett weakly argued.

"Relax. Let me handle this." He said simply, turning to the pool and surveying the area. It seemed their little scene had caught the attention of the mermaids, most of the action in the pool stopped and everyone was watching their interactions intently.

"What! But Naruto-kun, you're a..." Moka argued, stopping herself before she revealed his status as a human, suddenly worried for the blond's safety as well as Tsukune's.

Naruto turned and sent the girl a smirk before slowly striding along the side of the pool towards a nearby equipment shed. "We all have things we can and can't do Moka-chan. This is something I _can_ do. Just have a little faith in me."

Moka opened her mouth to argue more but a voice from her rosary silenced her. **'Do as he says and believe in him. There is far more to that man than he has let on. I want to see what he can do...' **The rosary rose from the pink haired girls chest slightly and a red slitted eye appeared in the center.

Moka reluctantly stood down, watching on worriedly with her hands held together up in front of her chest.

Mizore, Kurumu and Yukari watched from the side of the pool. After watching Naruto kick so much ass earlier, they weren't too worried for the blond. If anyone was in trouble here, it was the mermaids...

"You... you're Naruto Uzumaki?..." The Swimming Captain, Tamao, asked the blond that was still walking along the pools edge.

"Yep. Nice to meet you." Naruto answered with a relaxed smile, opening the doors to the equipment shed and reaching a hand in.

While the blond wasn't producing any large youki or anything, this boy was frightening many of the mermaids greatly, including Tamao. The blond's complete sense of calm and confidence, even while his friend was still in danger, was rather unnerving. If all the rumors surrounding this boy were even partly true, it wasn't a false confidence either.

"What are you planning to do?... Even if you're strong as the rumors are claiming, there's nothing you can do in the water. That's our territory! Mermaids are invincible in the water!" Tamao declared confidently.

"No one in this world is invincible." Naruto replied with a chuckle, pulling back from the equipment shed to show that he had retrieved a net that would normally be used for pool volleyball. The blond walked to the edge of the pool and uttered softly. "Not even me... _or perhaps especially me_..." Thinking the last part to himself in a moment of self pity.

Tamao opened her mouth to retort, but her voice died in her throat as Naruto took a step forward.

The blond was somehow walking on water.

"Jesus?..." A random student murmured in awe.

His every step would send small ripples throughout the water, but he was walking perfectly fine as if the water was somehow a solid surface. Everyone in the area watched in absolute shock. No known monster could do something like this!

'Just what kind of monster are you Naruto-kun?...' Kurumu watched his every step entrapped. Next to her Mizore and Yukari were in similarly mystified.

At the same time, Tsukune and Moka watched with wide eyes, unknowingly sharing the same thought. 'Did he lie to me about being human?...'

**'How very interesting...'** Inner Moka thought to herself from within the seal, unconsciously licking her lips.** 'You never fail to surprise me Naruto...'**

"W-what are you?..." Tamao asked in awe and more than a little fear.

Naruto smirked. "At the moment? I'm just a simple fisherman..." He said while adjusting the net in his hands.

The girl glared and lifted a hand, snapping her fingers loudly. "It doesn't matter what you are! The water is our territory!"

All the mermaids in the pool burst forth from the water and launched themselves at Naruto.

The blond simply sighed and unfurled his net. When the girls were upon him, he began dancing around the predictable and slow strikes while weaving the net around as many of the mermaids as he could.

Dodge, wrap net around mermaid body, duck, tangle another fish, jump over a webbed hand lashing out, rinse and repeat.

In less than thirty seconds of dodging, Naruto had nearly every mermaid tangled and squeezed together tightly, unable to move, in his makeshift fishing net.

Naruto turned to Tamao. "Like fish in a barrel." Naruto mocked with a large grin.

The girl screamed in frustration and rapidly swam towards him to attack him directly. A moment before she could reach him, the entire pool was flash frozen.

Naruto blinked before turning to Mizore. He raised an eyebrow, silently asking why she suddenly did that.

"All the boys that were in the pool escaped while the mermaids were focused on you." She explained plainly, pointing at all the boys that were running away as fast as their legs could take them.

The blond sent her an approving nod before turning and looking around the pool to see four remaining mermaids with their torsos sticking out of the frozen waters, all glaring bloody daggers at himself and Mizore. After a moment the blond smirked and opened his mouth. "I think you girls should..._ Chill out!_"

A moment of complete silence passed before a random students voice, which wouldn't have been heard if not for the unnatural silence, reached everyone's ears.

"Lame."

Naruto hung his head, looking like a kicked puppy, and began walking over to his friends, who were all standing together by the side of the pool now.

"Wait, you're just going to leave me here?" Tamao shouted at his back. She did _not_ want to be stuck here until the water unfroze.

Naruto looked at her over his shoulder. "It's not like you're going to die there. You'll simply have some time to think about your actions young lady." He admonished while waving a finger at her in a chiding manner.

The mermaid's response was an unladylike snarl.

As soon as the blond reached his friends, from the looks on all their faces, he could tell his was going to need to give them some answers.

"Lets get away from prying ears first." He mouthed silently, getting small nods from his friends.

Naruto glanced back over his shoulder at the frozen pool and all the tied up mermaid, staring at the scene blankly for a moment, before a smile overtook his face. "It looks like, in the end, they were all just... _fish out of water!_" The blond cackled to himself.

Yukari face-palmed. "Please, for the love of all that's good and holy, stop with the lame puns Naruto-kun..."

Ignoring Naruto's grumbling about no one appreciating comedy around here, the group began to leave the area.

-x-**X**-x-

(With the Group)

"So, what the hell was all that Naruto? I thought you said you were human!" Tsukune demanded as soon as the group was far enough away.

"I am human." Naruto answered with a blink.

"What?!" Kurumu all but shrieked with a shocked face. A look that was mirrored by Yukari and Mizore.

"Wait, if you're human, then how were you able to walk on water like that?" Moka ignored Kurumu's outburst and voiced her confusion.

Naruto gazed at his friends silently for a moment before deciding they deserved a proper answer after all they'd seen. Besides, the secret was pretty much out now. It didn't really matter if he started using his jutsu freely.

"Like I said, I'm human." Naruto calmly reiterated. "I never said I was weak, or that I couldn't fight though. That's something you two assumed on your own." The blond stated with a sly grin.

"You can definitely fight. I remember you were the one that took out nearly all of those lizard men when we first met." Mizore calmly interjected, backing up Naruto's claim.

"He also fought incredibly well against the Kendo Club earlier." Yukari added, actually looking at Naruto with a bit of apprehension now that she knew he was human. The very same race that had all but committed genocide against her kind.

"As for why I can walk on water, well that's simple..." Naruto leaned towards his friends and cupped a hand near his mouth like he was about to tell some big secret. "I'm a ninja!" The blond revealed with a wink.

"Why?..." came a sudden quiet question from Kurumu before anyone could enquire about the most recent revelation about the blond, the blue haired girl's head was tilted down with her hair shadowing her eyes.

"Why, what?" Naruto asked cautiously, even someone as dense as him could clearly see something was wrong with her body language.

Kurumu brought her face up to reveal a trembling lip and water welling up in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me you were human?!"

Everyone stared at her in surprise for a moment, not expecting the intensity of her outburst.

"I just didn't think it was important." The blond answered honestly.

"How the hell could something like this not be important?!" Kurumu demanded, tears now flowing freely.

"I don't know, It just isn't. I've never thought of race as important. Tsukune and I are human, Moka-chan is a vampire, Yukari-chan a witch, Mizore-chan a snow woman, and you're a succubus. I couldn't care less about any of that. You're all my precious people and nothing in this world will ever change that fact." Naruto stated simply, looking at his friends with a great deal of fondness.

Tsukune shook his head and let out a small chuckle. Somehow, he felt he probably should have expected an answer like that from his best friend by now.

Moka, Mizore and Kurumu all felt their faces heat up as they stared at Naruto in stunned silence. He considered them to be precious?...

Yukari felt ashamed that she had even considered the possibility of Naruto being her enemy. He was _nothing_ like the people who once threatened to bring about her race's extinction. Besides, he clearly valued bonds far too much to ever sever them needlessly.

The group walked in silence for a full minute before Kurumu spoke up again.

"I've decided." The blue haired girl spoke with surprising conviction.

"Decided?" Mizore asked with an arched eyebrow.

Kurumu ignored Mizore and pointed at Naruto dramatically. "I still don't know what your hangup is, but I've decided; _I don't care_ whatever it is. I'm not going to let such a kind hearted and affectionate man like you slip from my grasp! I'm definitely going to make you fall madly in love with me!" The blue haired girl declared with a fire burning in her eyes.

Naruto stared at her in wide eyed surprise while the others gaped at her. After staring at her for several seconds, Naruto turned his head to the side while sporting a light blush. "Do... do what you want. We still can't be together though..."

Damn him and his weakness for strong willed women. He must have inherited that from his father...

The smile that broke out on Kurumu's face was nothing short of radiant. Despite the boy's words, It was clear as day that her actions had effected him. The blue haired girl rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck, pulling his face down into the valley between her breasts. "Oh darling! I just knew I would win you over eventually!"

Naruto's protests were muffled by the globes of female flesh.

Moka puffed out her cheeks and gabbed one of Naruto's flailing arms, holding it to her body tightly. "Let go of Naruto-kun, Kurumu-chan! He isn't yours!"

Mizore silently took hold of the blond's other arms, and similarly to Moka, held it against her body tightly. "I won't lose to either of you." She uttered coldly.

The girls all locked gazes and sparks seemed to magically appear between their gazes.

Internally, despite the fact that she was currently suffocating him with her chest (what a way to go...), Naruto thanked Kurumu. It seemed that the unease that had been in the air this whole week had finally cleared up thanks to her deceleration, and everything was back to normal.

Well, as normal as things could possibly get for a ninja at a school full of monsters...

Standing just outside the small scuffle Yukari posed a question for Tsukune. "So you're human as well?"

"Err, yes." Tsukune answered with a small amount of apprehension, he'd heard about all the things humans had done to witches from Naruto.

"Okay." Yukari answered simply.

Tsukune blinked. "'Okay'? Really?... I thought you'd be more upset about this."

Yukari elaborated. "Admittedly I had some negative thoughts run through my mind when I first heard Naruto say he was human, but they quickly disappeared after he spoke of his feelings... I guess after that, hearing that you were human too just didn't have the same impact." She then grew a mischievous smile. "Besides, if I ever had to fight you, I think I would win!"

With a raincloud of negative emotions forming over his head, Tsukune decided the little witch was probably right.

Maybe he could ask Naruto one of these days if there was a way for him to get stronger? The blond was strong, and he was human too after all. Maybe there really _was_ something to his claim of being a ninja...

Tsukune watched the girls all blink in confusion as the blond shinobi somehow replaced himself with a nearby chair and ran off with a happy and mischievous laugh, leaving several very bewildered girls in his wake...

Yes... he'd definitely be having a talk with Naruto later.

-x-**X**-x-

(Three Days Later)

"So... we still don't have a club?" Naruto asked Tsukune rhetorically with his hands thrown behind his head casually. The two were walking and talking through the mostly empty hallways early one morning.

Tsukune sighed. "It certainly seems that way..."

"Oh! I was just looking for you two!" A voice echoed through the hall behind them.

The two turned to see their homeroom teacher, Shizuka, jog up to them. "Have you boys decided which club you will be joining?" She asked pleasantly. "You two, and your friends Moka and Mizore, are the only students yet to sign up for a club."

"Nekonome-sensei... No, we still haven't join any club." Tsukune answered for the both of them, somewhat nervously. He was surprised however when the woman seemed rather excited at his words.

"That's splendid! Then I wonder if you all wouldn't join my club?" The woman asked pleadingly, with her hands held together in front of her face. "The newspaper club... Nobody has joined, and it might get shut down!"

'Newspaper club, huh?...' Naruto wondered to himself. Naruto didn't really care what club he joined, he'd just end up ditching if it became annoying anyways. He almost joined one of the more physical clubs, like the martial arts club, but he got the feeling his friends would probably like to all join the same club. The club they joined didn't really matter, what was important would be that they were all together.

"I suppose that's fine with me. What do you think Tsukune?" Naruto spoke with a small shrug.

"I... I guess that's fine. We should probably ask the others first though." Tsukune agreed with a small nod.

"I think that sounds wonderful! I'll join the club too!" Moka called, walking towards the group with a smile.

Before either boy could greet her, more voices spoke up.

"Oh! Oh! I want to join too!" Yukari shouted, suddenly running from around a corner.

"I'm joining as well." Mizore spoke calmly, stepping out from behind a pillar right beside the group.

Kurumu suddenly flew in from a nearby window, landing in front of the duo with a flourish. "I'm also joining!"

Naruto and Tsukune sweat-dropped.

The blond scrutinized the girls warily. 'What the hell? It's like they were all suddenly summoned here... Well, either that or...'

"You were following us, weren't you?" Naruto asked in a deadpan voice.

From the flinches of Yukari, Moka and Kurumu, and the tiniest of twitches from Mizore, he had his answer.

The blond face-palmed. He really did attract the weirdos into his life didn't he?

Then again, he was a super awesome ninja who had more quirks than he ever cared to count, it's not like he was really one to talk about being normal...

* * *

**_AN:_ Damn you Kishimoto. The sudden developments (or bullshit, as I like to call it) you pulled in your recent manga chapters has kinda made my original plot for this fic take an arrow to the knee. This just makes me even more glad that I didn't clarify the back story though, all I'll need to do to fix this is rework a few ideas...**

**All right, pointless complaining aside, I decided to use the rest of this space to answer a few questions that I've been repeatedly asked:**

_**Q: Will Tsukune get stronger, and if he will, how will he do so?**_

**A: As you can see from this chapter, I've kinda already hinted at how that's gonna play out...**

_**Q: Who will Tsukune be paired with? **_

**A: First of all, _good freakin lord_, I've gotten _way_ more flak over this question than any other. At the moment I'm actually leaning towards a girl that a reader suggested, Ayame (the Ichiraku Ramen waitress and Naruto's older sister figure as he grew up), I think I could make that work in an interesting way. It's gonna be a while till this story reaches the Konoha arc I have planned though, so there's plenty of time for me to change my mind.**

**I feel the need to clarify something; I don't have anything against Tsukune (I actually kinda like his character later in the series). I'm not going to screw him over just because I can. I wouldn't have left him in the story if he didn't have a role to play. **

**Is it really _that_ 'awfully assholey of me' (in the words of a loving reviewer) to pair him with a girl that isn't from the Rosario-verse? Tsukune's romance was always going to be a secondary plot element, so does it _really_ matter if it happens to be with a girl that doesn't attend Yokai Academy?... **

**If the pairing bugs you _that_ much, then make your own story and show this horribly bias noob how it's done!... Heaven knows this particular crossover section could use more good stories...**

_**Q: What's the situation with Kurama (Kyuubi)?**_

**A: That'll be addressed in the next chapter.**

_**Q: Is this story based off of the R+V manga or the anime?**_

**A: Manga. The R+V anime actually annoys the hell outta me. It's not like the manga plot was all that complicated, and yet they still dumbed it down to a ridiculous degree. But what really gets in my craw more than anything else, is how they absolutely butchered Ruby's character in the anime. Ruby is probably my favorite character in R+V. She's a lovable and quirky masochist who says and does hilariously inappropriate things, _not_ the goddamn delusional fruit-loop she was portrayed as in the anime!**

_**Q: Is this going to become an angst fic filled with rape and such?**_

**A: To answer bluntly, not a chance in hell. Honestly, I kinda thought that would have come across by this point with the constant stream of humor and the general lightheartedness of the character interactions so far... I'm not saying things won't get pretty heavy at times, they definitely will (kind of like the ending of the last chapter), but I'll flat out tell you right now that there won't be anything as dark as rape in this story.**

**Besides, the niche for a good dark Naruto/R+V story was already filled years ago with 'The True Monster'.**

_**Q: What's the status of the Elemental Nations and all of Naruto's old friends? / What the hell was with Naruto's behavior in the last chapter? / Exactly which girls are paired with Naruto?**_

**A: I'm gonna be a bastard, and say wait and find out to all three questions. **

**On a side note, I've really enjoyed the theories some of you readers have come up with regarding why Naruto is at the academy. No ones gotten it right, but I honestly didn't expect anyone to just yet; too many things are still vague at the moment. **

**Anyways, have a nice day folks. **

_**Read / Review**_

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	5. Lecher Lycanthrope

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Rosario+Vampire or anything else mentioned in this story. Everything belongs to their respective licenses holders. I will break something that I do own if it really turns out to be Obito under the mask in the next manga chapter._

* * *

**Chasing Shadows**

**Chapter Five :**_** Lecher Lycanthrope **_

* * *

"Summoning Jutsu!"

An intricate circular seal appeared on the ground as Naruto slammed a hand down upon the loose soil in the middle of his personal training ground. A moment later, a large cloud of white smoke filled the area obscuring all within.

When the smoke dissipated a large figure that stood taller than Naruto revealed itself. It was a very large toad with orange skin with intricate blue patters on it's body, yellow amphibian-like eyes, and a blue vest covering it's back.

"Yo bro!" The toad greeted with a wave.

"Sup Kichi?" Naruto grinned, pulling a candy bar from his pocket and throwing it to the giant toad.

The giant toad shot his tongue out catching the precious treat before instantly devouring it, wrapper and all. "So what do you need?" The amphibian addressed his summoner after smacking his lips together in satisfaction.

Naruto expression turned stern as he folded his arms in front of his chest and spoke in a serious tone. "First of all, any new leads?.."

The orange toad visibly deflated. "No bro, I'm afraid not..."

The blond sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It's fine Kichi. I would have been more surprised if you guys actually _had _found something... I just felt I should ask anyways... _just in case_..." The blond trailed off and looked at the ground for a few seconds in silence before he shook his head to clear his thoughts and reached into his other pocket, pulling out a sealed scroll and a simple note. "I want you to deliver these to a couple people in Konoha for me." The sage spoke while handing the items to the overgrown amphibian.

"The scroll goes to Grandma Tsunade. Be careful when you deliver it though. I haven't given her an update in a couple months, and knowing that old hag, she just might kick your ass to get back at me vicariously." Naruto warned.

The orange toad gulped and nodded. He didn't need to be told twice. He would drop the scroll off and run for the hills. He'd seen Jiraiya get his ass kicked by his old teammate enough times to know to not piss the excessively strong woman off.

"As for the note, you should probably give that to Iruka-sensei. He'd know where to get all the things on that list." The shinobi advised.

Gamakichi skimmed over the note for a moment before raising a nonexistent eyebrow. "What the hell do you need a scroll on basic chakra manipulation for?..."

"I've got a friend here who needs to be able to access his chakra... but I kinda forgot how you do that the very first time..." Naruto admitted sheepishly while scratching the back of his head.

Gamakichi gave him a deadpan look. "How the hell do you not know? You're one of the strongest ninja alive!"

Naruto stuck his tongue out at the snarky amphibian. "Bite me. I learned that stuff back in the academy when I was like seven. I know how to access my chakra more out of instinct nowadays rather than knowing the actual mechanics of how it's done!"

Gamakichi shook his head exasperatedly before a thought occurred to him. "Wait a sec bro. I thought you told me before that this school was filled with people that were around your age?... Wouldn't this information be completely useless to someone who's already in their teen years?"

"Normally, yeah it would be." Naruto admitted freely.

"Then what the hell's the point?!" The toad barked, looking at his summoner incredulously.

"Do you remember that project Pervy Sage and I were working on during the training trip?" Naruto calmly retorted with a smirk.

Gamakichi looked down in thought for a moment before his eyes widened in understanding. "The thing that would help that loud green spandex kid that you're friends with?"

"That's the one." Naruto confirmed with a nod, throwing his arms behind his head.

"Wait... I thought that you and the old perv never finished that?..." The toad questioned.

The shinobi looked like his bubble had just been burst, but nodded reluctantly none the less. "You're right, we didn't. But that was mostly because Pervy Sage kicked up the intensity of my training and the idea kinda got put on the back burner." Naruto's grin returned. "I still think the idea is plausible though. Just give me some time to work out the bugs. If I'm still having trouble with it a week from now, I'll probably have you reverse summon me to My_ō_bokuzan so I can try and work it out with Pa."

The toad nodded in understanding.

Gamakichi glanced back over the note one last time. "And the scrolls on elemental affinities?"

Naruto smirked mysteriously. "Just an ace in the hole..."

Gamakichi rolled his eyes. "Whatever bro. Just have some snacks for me when you summon me later."

Now it was the blond's turn to roll his eyes. "No shit. You and Gamatatsu ask for the same thing every time. I'd have to be brain dead not to notice the pattern."

Gamakichi opened his mouth to say something that would obviously be an insult before the blond cut him off. "Just go. I'll have your damn sweets."

The amphibian smirked, gave a nod and a mock salute, then disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.

Naruto shook his head exasperatedly and turned on his heel to head back to the school.

The ninja looked up at the dead trees longingly, oh how he wished he could tree hop right now. He had tried doing so during his first week at this academy, but the experience left him groaning in pain on the ground with a hunk of wood impaled into his left ass cheek.

Damn brittle branches...

-x-**X**-x-

(Newspaper Club Room)

Kurumu instantly glomped Naruto as soon as he entered the room. "Oh darling, I'm so happy we'll be in the same club!"

Naruto smiled. While he still wasn't quite sure how he should handle the girl's rather straightforward romantic advances, he couldn't deny that the constant heartfelt affection she showered him with didn't effect him. He was an orphan who's greatest dream for most of his life had always been for the respect and admiration of others. So try as he might, he couldn't help but be a bit vulnerable against the honest affections that these girls showed him so freely... Even if he wouldn't admit it out loud.

"Yeah, I'm glad we're in the same club too." The blond admitted in a softer tone than normal.

The blue haired girl smiled widely up at him and reached her hands up for his neck to pull him into her embrace, but was suddenly frozen in a block of ice and pushed off to the side as Mizore appeared before him, placing one of his hands between her own. "I'm glad we'll be able to spend more time together now." The purple haired girl uttered calmly, looking up into his eyes with a small smile.

Naruto liked that look in her eyes. They had far more... _life_ in them than they used to. She had only been a part of their little group for a couple weeks now, but he could tell that her friends already meant a lot to her. It made him think of when he was first recognized and accepted by Iruka... It was one of the best feelings he'd ever experienced. It warmed the shinobi's heart that he could bring that same sense of unconditional acceptance to this girl.

Before the blond could respond, Mizore was knocked out of his vision, similarly to Kurumu moments before, by a sudden hip check from Moka. The pink haired girl rushed forward and placed her hands on the blond's chest. "Oh Naruto-kun, I was wondering when you'd show up... I was hoping I could have some blood? I'm kind of feeling a bit lightheaded..." She asked cutely with an adorable pout.

Naruto couldn't help but be amused. These girls were always so lively that it made his time at this academy a lot more fun than it probably should be. "Sure, go ahead Moka-chan." Naruto grinned tilting his head to the side, exposing his jugular.

The pinkett squealed happily and brought her lips to his neck, sinking her fangs into his tan flesh.

"Why the hell are you never bothered when she does that? You're always so nonchalant about it!" A thawed out Kurumu asked Naruto indignantly after sending Mizore a death-glare for freezing her in the first place.

Naruto blinked then stared down at the pink haired girl, whom was sporting warm cheeks and a glazed look in her eyes as she happily drank his lifeblood. The look on the blond's face seemed to indicate this was the first time he'd seriously contemplated the question. "I guess I'm just kind of desensitized to it." Naruto finally answered the blue haired girl's question after silently studying Moka for a few moments.

"Desensitized?" Yukari's voice reached Naruto's ears as she and Tsukune walked in through the door. The two of them had just had the same class and arrived just in time to hear Kurumu's question.

Tsukune looked just as interested in the blond's response, but was also sporting that weird look that was somewhere between pity and envy. He _still _wasn't quite sure what to think when he saw Moka sucking on the blond's neck like that. On one hand, she was ridiculously cute and any straight man would kill to have her sucking on their neck. But on the other hand, she was sucking out his blood. His _blood!_ It gave Tsukune the creeps just thinking about it.

Hence the black haired human's confusion on exactly what he should feel whenever he saw this little scene... He was broken from his thoughts when Naruto chuckled sheepishly and began to explain what he meant.

"Yeah, I've got a... _friend_... back home who's been drinking my blood for years now." The blond answered somewhat vaguely.

_That_ comment caught all of Moka's attention. "What?... You knew another vampire before me?" She asked after quickly pulling back from his neck, sounding almost hurt.

"No, she's human. She's just kind of a nutter-butter." Naruto clarified bluntly. "I think she gets her kicks from freaking me the fuck out and licking blood from my cheek whenever she gets the chance."

To this day, Naruto still wasn't sure if Anko terrified him more, or turned him on more.

Before the inevitable storm of questions asking who this 'friend' of the blond's was could descend, Shizuka walked into the room and cheerfully greeted the teens. "Oh goodie! You're all here already!"

Oblivious that he'd just dodged the bullet of having to explain himself, the blond male waved happily. "Sup Sensei?"

The sandy blonde haired woman had quickly become his favorite teacher at this academy. Probably because her upbeat attitude kinda reminded him of his own... The fact that she was also rather beautiful and always wore miniskirts didn't play any part in forming the opinion in the blond teenager's mind.

Really, it didn't.

"Are you all ready to begin with the club activities?" The teacher addressed the assembled group after sending Naruto and acknowledging smile.

A moment of silence passed as the group silently glanced at each other and looked around the room, all taking notice of the same thing.

Tsukune rose his hand into the air and tentatively voiced the question for the group. "Uh, Sensei? Are we the only members in this club?..."

"What?! No, of course not!" Shizuka declared aghast.

"Sorry I'm late! And on the very first day too..." An unfamiliar voice sounded from just outside the door.

"Oh! Here comes the only other member now!" The sandy blonde gestured to the door excitedly.

The figure that stepped through the door was a tall teenage male a year or two older than the others. He had brown eyes, windswept black hair that hung loosely framing his face, and a red hairband just above his forehead that kinda reminded Naruto of his own headband, just without the metal plate or the social significance. The boy was wearing the standard academy getup but had the shirt unbuttoned revealing a bit of his chest, showing off a necklace that had an emblem that looked like a wolf's head on it. All in all, Naruto thought he looked like a pretty boy... Kind of like Sasuke.

The blond hated him already.

"Greetings! I'm the president of this newspaper club, Ginei Morioka. Pleased to meet ya!" he sent the group a charming smile as his teeth seemed to practically sparkle. It gave Naruto a flashback of Lee doing the same thing while giving a thumbs up. How the hell do they manage to do that?...

Gin's eyes landed on the girls, Moka in particular, then he rushed forward, pulling three bouquets from behind his back, and quickly placed them in Moka, Kurumu and Mizore's hands. "Oh! Shizuka-Sensei told me about you girls, but I wasn't expecting you all to be so beautiful!" He pointed at himself with his thumb and gave another charming smile. "You can call me 'Gin'... I hope those lovely flowers suit you lovely ladies!"

Now the blond had to fight the urge to sock him in the jaw.

From beside the blond, Yukari looked like she was having similar thoughts. While she didn't really want his attention, it annoyed her that he hadn't even acknowledge her as a female.

Tsukune looked freaked out and annoyed that he had _yet another_ unique personality to deal with.

Moka and Kurumu stood slightly stunned at the forward behavior, while an unfazed Mizore simply flash froze the flowers and threw them over her shoulder without a care.

Naruto winced as he watched the flowers shatter into countless shards. Damn, that was cold. The blond didn't particularly like this guy, but he'd been shot down enough times by Sakura that he could sympathize with him... It then occurred to the shinobi that he'd essentially done the same thing to Kurumu a little over a week ago. Sure, he'd done it in a lot kinder manner, and he had a very good reason for his actions, but the facts were that he'd immediately shot her down _just_ like that...

Fantastic. He just depressed himself again...

He needed to stop doing that!

Gin seemed to brush off the immediate dismissal easily enough though. 'When a man flirts with every attractive female he ever sees, he must have to get used to getting shot down a lot.' Naruto mused to himself silently. At least that was the blond's old theory when it came to Jiraiya... It seemed like it applied easily enough to this guy as well.

Shizuka stepped forward and gestured to the flirty boy. "Gin-kun is the only second year member in the club. I want you all to address any questions about this club you might have to him."

"Heh, you can always count on me!" The addressed boy said with another charming smile, pointing at himself with his thumb.

Kurumu suddenly clung to Naruto's side. "Naruto-kun! I'm not very good with this flirty kind of guy!" She whispered to him, looking somewhat distraught.

Naruto couldn't withhold his snort of amusement.

Kurumu looked at him sharply. "What's funny about that?" She asked with a bit of annoyance.

Realizing he was treading in potentially dangerous waters, the blond clarified himself. "It's just that you're probably the flirtiest girl I've ever known. It's just kinda of amusing to hear_ you _say that."

Kurumu looked like she begrudgingly accepted that logic, much to the blond's silent relief. The last thing he needed was another woman pissed off at him. He'd gotten his ass handed to him by enough women for one lifetime, thank you very much.

The smirk that suddenly formed on the busty blue haired girl's lips brought a sense of dread to the shinobi.

The succubus straightened up and brought her lips near his ear, her breath tickling him as she began to speak. "You know, I think I'd probably like it if _you_ decided to get a bit flirty with me though, Naruto-kun..." The succubus whispered in his ear as she trailed a finger down his chest.

Naruto's face flushed and he quickly looked in the other direction. Good lord, this girl could get past his defenses far too easily when she really tried. It was times like this that the shinobi silently cursed himself for not taking Jiraiya more seriously when he had tried to teach him about resisting seduction. At the time, he thought it was just some scheme of the old perv's to corrupt him. Which in retrospect, he still totally thought it was. But looking back on it, the info would have been useful to know... especially right now.

Luckily Naruto was saved from the forward succubus when Shizuka spoke up again as she began to walk towards the door. "Well, I need to be off since there's a staff meeting." She gestured to to the recently introduced male. "Take care of the rest of the club proceedings, Gin-kun."

Said boy gave the teacher a small thumbs up. "Leave it to me!"

"You've gotta go already Sensei?" Tsukune asked surprised, she'd only been here for about a minute.

The sandy blonde haired woman waved apologetically as she walked out the door. "Sorry, I'll see you later everyone! Make friends with your sempai, alright?!"

A moment of awkward silence passed through the room after the teacher left the room. Naruto looked outside, already bored, as the rest of the group silently watched Gin as he scanned over his new club members, seemingly noticing the two other males and the little witch for the first time.

His gaze stopped on Naruto and he blinked in mild bewilderment.

Gin raised an eyebrow and pointed at the blond's orange clothing. "Why isn't he wearing the school uniform?"

"A group of fanatical cultists used my set of the academy clothes in some sort of vile ritual... They couldn't find a goat or a virgin, so they had to make do." Naruto answered without turning his gaze from the window.

Gin face-faulted while everyone else in the room sweat-dropped and looked at Naruto as if he needed psychiatric help.

"Right... So anyways, first of all, I'll give you guys an explanation on just what kind of club this is!" Gin continued after he stood up and brushed himself off, totally ignoring the odd words that just came from the blond's mouth.

"The goal of the newspaper club is to publish the school newspaper!" Gin began, stating the abundantly obvious in Naruto's opinion. "Most of your activity will be in this club will be reporting on all kinds of things that happen within this academy and assembling them seamlessly into our school's paper!" He raised a fist into the air dramatically. "For the sake of an interesting scoop, you'll all be placed into dangerous situations time and time again! I'll tell you right now, this ain't gonna be an easy ride! Once you've joined this club, you should prepare yourselves for anything!..."

The group stared at him silently for a few moments as they went over his words in their minds.

Naruto's gaze narrowed, taking the warning far more seriously than the others. He wondered if this Gin character was embellishing things simply to make this club seem more glamorous, or if his little group really would face dangerous situations regularly.

If only the shinobi knew all the dangerous situations he would have to deal with in the coming months...

Naruto was broken from his musing as Moka tentatively spoke up. "He seems like... someone we can depend on, right?" She voiced optimistically.

"Huh? Uh... yeah." Tsukune hesitantly agreed with the pinkett.

No one other than Naruto caught the small self-satisfied grin that graced Gin's face for a split second. The shinobi narrowed his eyes again. This guy had some kind of hidden agenda other than being an annoying flirty pretty boy jackass.

Gin suddenly laughed happily. "Don't worry this club shouldn't actually be that dangerous, I was just messing with ya! Now, lets have some fun without all that strict talk!" He reached over to the teacher's desk and picked up some colorful papers before holding them up before the group. "This is our group's poster ad. Let's put them up on the walls, okay?!" He stated cheerfully, handing the posters to the group.

Naruto didn't immediately move as he took a moment to look the poster over. It was a simple picture of Shizuka pointing at, wouldn't you know it, a newspaper. It had a simple caption along the side that read: 'If you have a chance, make sure to read Youkai Newspaper! – Newspaper Club'. The blond was broken from his lazy half-interested inspection of the poster when Tsukune nudged him in the side.

"Naruto, somethings up with this guy." The black haired human whispered, gesturing towards their club captain.

Naruto followed his fellow human's gaze only for his hackles to immediately rise at the scene he found.

The girls were all standing on chairs near the wall on their tippy toes as they were trying to place posters up high on the back wall. That's not what made the blond want to kick someone's ass though, It was the fact that their club president was crouched down below them and had a goofy smile on his flushed face.

The pervert was totally looking up the girls skirts!

Immediately realizing that this guy had only suggested the whole poster thing so that he could peep at some panties, the blond walked over and called out the black haired pervert. "Oi, knock that off asshole!"

The club president stood up and took a few steps back. "Huh? What are you talking about?" He asked in fake confusion, feigning innocence.

Naruto glared. "You know damn well what I mean Pervy Pres. You were looking up their skirts!"

The blond cherished his ability to come up with fitting and insulting nicknames on the spot.

Gin smiled and waved his hand around in a dismissing manner, though the annoyed twitching eye showed that he'd heard his new nickname clearly. "Heh, nonsense! There's no way that I'm the kind of guy that would do something that lame!"

'Yes you freakin are!' Naruto thought, getting ready to yell at the club president some more. The arrival of the girls stopped his outburst though.

"What's going on over here? Why was there suddenly yelling?" Moka asked with the other girls at her side, also looking concerned.

Unfortunately Gin beat him to the punch. "Ah well, this guy here," He pointed at Naruto. "he says that he got an eye full of your panties!"

"Eh?!" The girls shouted, faces instantly flushing as they looked at the blond in shock.

'Uh-oh... this could turn ugly fast. Quick, think of something you blond dumbass!' Naruto screamed at himself mentally. He knew just how quick to anger women could get when they were on a pervert hunt. Luckily, a memory popped into his mind of the _one time_ he'd witnessed the Pervy Sage escape from a rightful beating from Grandma Tsunade. The old Toad Sage had been so brutally honest and complimentary that he'd stunned his former teammate into inaction while he ran for the hills...

"Now, now, girls. Who are you going to believe? Someone you've just met, or me? I promise I didn't see anything." The shinobi spoke placatingly.

Tsukune stepped forward and backed his best friend. "Naruto didn't even get close enough to you girls _to_ peek up your skirts in the first place."

Naruto was pretty sure he was in the clear from the calming faces of the girls, but there was still 'blood in the water' so to speak. He needed to hammer home that he wasn't the culprit. He reached out and put the girls hands together, then placed his own hands over theirs.

The shinobi then looked them dead in their eyes and spoke seriously. "I promise you ladies, if I ever feel the urge to see your panties, I will simply walk up to you and say: 'please, may I see your panties?'."

The girls blushes returned full force and they were left even more stunned then before as they tried to stutter out some kind of response to such a blunt statement.

Naruto grabbed a nearby poster, jumped in the air and slapped said poster to the wall, sticking it there with a tack before he hit the ground, then sprinted out the door. "I'll see you guys later!" He called out over his shoulder.

No way in hell he was sticking around right now when there was potentially pissed of women with super strength in the room.

The girls were left staring at the door with varying degrees of bewilderment and embarrassment.

Gin had a look that was somewhere between stunned disbelief and reverence, as if he couldn't believe what he just witnessed, but was contemplating taking notes from it anyways.

Tsukune's face looked strangely similar, but was tinged with a certain air of amusement. 'Naruto has got to be the weirdest and bravest person I've ever known...'

-x-**X**-x-

(Next Day – Naruto's Training Ground)

"Naruto-kun, wake up."

Eyelids slowly blinked open and blue eyes met blue eyes of a lighter shade.

"Mizore-chan?... What's up?" Naruto greeted her once he began to get his bearings. He brought a hand to his eyes and rubbed the sand from his eyes as he sat up. He blinked once he realized he was in the middle of his training ground.

Why was he asleep in the middle of a field again?...

Oh yeah, that's right, now he remembered. Once he left the others yesterday, he'd immediately went out here and summoned Gamakichi again. The toad and himself exchanged mild witty banter, with Naruto laughing his ass off as the amphibian mentioned that Tsunade had thrown an empty sake bottle at him, before the toad handed his summoner the scrolls he'd received from Iruka and dismissed himself back to the toad realm.

For the next several hours after that, the blond had been trying to work out the first step of the new elemental manipulation he was trying to learn. Abusing the hell out of the memory trick with his clones for all it was worth.

He must have dispelled too many clones at once and blacked out... Oops...

He hadn't done that to himself since trying to learn the Rasenshuriken...

He was broken from his musing when he turned back to the purple haired girl and caught sight of the worried look she was sporting.

"Tsukune needs our help." Mizore said plainly once she saw she had his attention.

"What do you mean?" The shinobi asked seriously as he began standing up and brushing himself off.

"Gin framed him as being a peeping tom." She elaborated more at Naruto's sharp glance. "Kurumu and I caught sight of him approaching Tsukune in the hallway, but something was off about the whole situation, so we followed them. He mislead Tsukune into looking through a window that was outside a girls changing room. Kurumu went to go try and prevent Tsukune from getting beaten up by the mislead girls, while I decided to find you." The snow woman explained the situation as clear an concise as she could. "Knowing our little group's luck, things will get worse before they get better." She joked somewhat cynically.

Naruto sighed. Another day, another asshole messing with him or his friends.

"Alright, lets get going then." Naruto began running towards the school at a pace his companion could keep up with. Said purple haired girl quickly fell into step at his side. "How'd you know I was out here anyways?"

The purple haired girl glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "I guessed. I'd suspected I might find you out here when you didn't show up today... I'm glad my hunch was correct. I wasn't expecting to find you asleep however, but I suppose that explains why you never showed up for _any_ class..."

Naruto blinked again. "Never showed up for class?! Just what time is it?..." He asked shocked, looking up towards the sun only to find it already starting it's daily decent to the west. It was already really low in the sky too!

"Classes for the day have been over for several hours now." Mizore informed him dryly, a minor amount of amusement gracing her features at the blond's gobsmacked face.

'What the hell?! Why was I out for so freaking long?! The last time I did training like this I woke up within a couple hours after passing out. What the hell's different this time?... The fox should have healed me almo..." The blond's eyes widened as the answer hit him like a train, stopping him mid-thought.

'The fox...'

The blond's steps momentarily hitched, causing him to trip and fall flat on his face.

"Naruto-kun!" The purple haired girl shouted in worry, quickly rushing to his fallen form and helping him up.

Naruto's mind was a million miles away as his eyes glazed over. 'The fox... Kurama...' He thought sadly. He kept forgetting that he was alone now...

That he was a Jinchuuriki no more...

It's funny, even as little as a year ago, he would have probably found the concept to be a dream come true... But now... It left him with a profound sense of..._ hollowness_ inside. Like he'd lost a part of _himself _as well as one of his dear comrades...

He'd been without Kurama for almost half a year now, but he still wasn't used to it. For better or worse, that big ass fox had been a part of his life since the beginning. The blond had to keep reminding himself that he no longer had all the advantages he once had...

He would have to remember to be more careful with his clones from this point on... The memory backlash from shadow clones could actually kill him or leave him brain dead now, without the fox to pick up the pieces and heal him while he was unconscious...

"Naruto-kun are you alright?" Mizore's almost frightened voice reached his ears, breaking him from his musing.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked, shaking his his head slightly.

Mizore audibly sighed in relief before she looked up at him. "You tripped, then completely spaced out from the world. I've been calling your name for at least three minutes now." She stated with a mix of worry and confusion, squeezing his hand, which he just realized was intertwined with her own.

"I'm sorry for worrying you Mizore-chan. I'm just kinda clumsy sometimes, and I can get easily distracted!" Naruto plastered a wide smile on his face while he scratched the back of his head.

"Don't smile at me like that." Mizore spoke abruptly and sternly.

"Wha-what?!" Naruto asked startled and caught of guard.

She looked at him deep in his eyes. "Don't smile those fake smiles like that... I've been watching you ever since I've met you, studying your habits... I can tell when you're feeling lonely and sad about something... Don't hide it behind that fake smile I've seen you wear whenever you're feeling down... You don't always have to be strong around me." She uttered in a soft tone unlike anything he'd ever heard from her before.

Naruto stared at her with wide eyes. She saw through him that easily?... Only a handful of the closest people in his life had ever been able to tell when he was hiding his emotions behind a mask. And yet this girl, whom he'd only known a couple weeks, had figured him out already? Most people simply ended up writing him off as a one dimensional idiot after knowing him for a day. Or having one conversation with him, really. But this girl cared enough to notice the nuances of his personality and look deeper than almost everyone else?...

The blond felt liquid begin to pool at the edge of his eyes, but quickly rubbed his free hand over them, dispelling the potential tears. He then looked back up at the girl with a genuinely bright smile. "I'm sorry. I promise I won't smile at you like that again Mizore-chan!"

Mizore simply smiled back with a light shade of pink dusting her cheeks.

A few moments of comfortable silence passed between to two, still sitting next to each other in the middle of the forest.

Naruto looked down at their still interlocked hands and gave Mizore's hand a thankful squeeze, then looked into her blue eyes.

"You're a really good friend Mizore-chan. I'm glad I have someone like you in my life." Naruto said softly and sincerely with a small but meaningful smile.

The girl's eyes widened and her blush returned full force.

The blond then loudly cleared his throat, stood up, and abruptly began running for the school. "Come on, were using up too much time just sitting around, for all we know Tsukune could still be in trouble!" He called over his shoulder.

Mizore stood rooted in place as her heartbeat loudly hammered in her ears, watching the boy go as his heartfelt words echoed in her mind. After a long moment the girl got up and began running after Naruto, who was jogging slow enough for her to easily catch up.

While the boy's words filled her heart with more warmth than she'd ever felt, she couldn't help but wonder. '_Just_ a friend, Naruto-kun?...'

-x-**X**-x-

(School Roof)

When Naruto and Mizore arrived at they place Tsukune was supposedly being held, they found nothing. In fact, after over half an hour of searching, they couldn't find any of their friends. Naruto was just about to say 'screw it' and enter Sage Mode so he could find them, when a familiar blast of power from the school's roof caught their attention.

Moka's seal had been released.

Naruto quickly swept Mizore up into his arms bridal style, eliciting a cute startled 'eep' from the girl, and began to run straight up the side of the school, much to the purple haired girl's utter amazement.

"How are you doing this?" She asked with her arms clinging around his neck tightly.

Naruto grinned. "Ninja, remember?... I can do all kinds of awesome stuff that would blow your mind."

When the blond reached the base of the roof, he jumped over the railing and landed in a crouch. He quickly let Mizore stand on her own feet and turned to take in the situation. Tsukune, Kurumu and Yukari were all together staring with wide eyes at the sudden unexpected entrance, while in the middle of the roof the the silver haired Moka stood gripping the arm of some large wolf man, who Naruto suspected must be Gin.

"Sorry I'm late to the party, but I kinda got lost on the road of life." The shinobi grinned widely, feeling pretty good with himself for using the legendary line.

Everyone on the roof sweat-dropped.

The wolf man took advantage of the distraction and quickly freed himself for the vampires grasp, moving to the top of a nearby railing with startling speed. "Ho ho, good timing there blondie! Moka-chan almost had me in a check mate, but you distracted her just in time for the moon to become clear again!" He gestured grandly towards the full moon that was clearly visible in the night sky.

Naruto glanced at Moka to find her sending him an annoyed look, confirming the lycanthrope's words. The blond sent the silver haired vampire an innocent shrug. "Oops?"

The vampire merely rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest with a faint smile. **"Hmph."**

The werewolf spoke up, breaking them from there small exchange. "I was hoping you would show up Naruto. You were the original guy I was planning to frame earlier, but you were no where on campus today, so I decided to get Tsukune out of the picture first." He grinned, showing razor sharp teeth. "But now that you're here..." He disappeared in a sudden burst of speed.

"Watch out Naruto-kun!" Kurumu shouted.

The warning came too late however, as Naruto's head snapped back as the werewolf landed a heavy haymaker right to the blond's face that send his body sliding across the roof.

"Naruto-kun!" Several voices cried out, all of them moving to help their downed friend. But all stopped in their tracks when the blond's calm voice reached their ears.

"_Relax_. It'll take a lot more than some weak ass punch to take me down."

Naruto's legs bunched up before shooting out like a spring, the momentum lifting him off his back and back onto his feet. 'Shadow Clones won't do me any good here... they'd be taken out far too easily with how fast this guy is...' Naruto analyzed silently before a smirk overtook his face. 'Good. I kinda wanted to punch him in the face with my own two hands anyways.' The blond took a hand and ran it over his mouth, wiping off a small amount of blood, then spit a glob of blood off to the side. "Your speed caught me a bit off guard there, I'll admit..." The shinobi addressed the lycanthrope, then cracked his neck then took some kind of loose fighting stance.

"Alright, lets try that one more time, _mutt_. Lets see who the top dog is around here, shall we?" Naruto challenged with a feral grin.

Gin growled and disappeared in another burst of speed, only for his strike to be stopped by a raised forearm. The wolf man's form blurred and he tried attacking from another angle, only for Naruto to roll to the side, well out of range. The werewolf roared and attacked rapidly as he could from every angle he could manage, but every blow was either blocked or dodged. The same pattern continued for nearly thirty seconds in an exchange of lightning fast movements as the two males shot around the rooftop like ping-pong balls.

The others watched in amazement.

"Is Naruto-kun really as fast as a werewolf under the full moon?..." Yukari asked in awe.

"**No. He's not as fast as the wolf." **Moka answered from beside the witch, not taking her red eyes off the fight.

"What do you mean? Gin's not landing a single hit on Naruto-kun!" Kurumu protested.

The silver haired Moka smirked. **"True. But even though Naruto is the clearly more experienced fighter, he has also yet to land any blows on his opponent. All he's been able to do is dodge or block." **

The succubus opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to come up with an answer to that before she gave up and closed her mouth with an audible 'click'.

"**While Naruto is indeed moving quite fast, the only reason the wolf hasn't landed any blows is because Naruto seems to have some experience with fighting foes with such extreme speed."** Moka explained her theory as she watched the blond's movements. **'How interesting, his movements are so random and almost illogical... it's like he has no actual style.'** She watched as the blond ducked under a wide swipe only to finally land a blow on his opponent's midsection. **'It's definitely helping him here though, Gin is getting frustrated and sloppier with his movements.' **Moka smirked excitedly as Naruto landed another blow. **'Show me what you can do against an S-class monster you unique little human...'**

The werewolf suddenly launched a claw forward in a straight jab, intent on simply impaling the blond through the chest and ending this, but the blond rolled around strike, grabbed the extended hand, then threw the werewolf towards the railing.

When the airborne lycanthrope's feet touched the side of the roof, he immediately rocketed back at his opponent using his powerful legs. Just as the wolf was seemingly about to land a blow on the blond, Naruto bent his entire body backwards, placing his hands on the ground behind him, and snapped both of his legs upward and into the wolf's gut with the force of a sledgehammer. The blond followed through by rolling his legs forward and letting the werewolf go flying over the blond with the momentum the wolf himself had built.

The wolf went flying overhead where he slammed into the railing on the opposite side of the roof, bending the iron bars significantly, before landing in a heap. After laying on the ground for a moment wheezing and trying to regain some of the air that had just been violently knocked from his lungs, the lycanthrope stood back up and charged at the blond once more.

"What the hell! How are you keeping up with me?! I'm under the full moon!" Gin roared in rage and confusion. There shouldn't be another monster that could match his speed! Especially one that didn't even need to transform! What in the world was this blond haired bastard?...

Naruto grinned as he danced around another strike. "You're fast. Like _really fast_. In fact, you'd probably be able to take on a low ranking jonin with no problem with that kind of speed... but you've got nothing on Fuzzy Brows or Fuzzy Brows Sensei!"

"Fuzzy... Brows?..." Tsukune asked from the sidelines with a sweat-drop, getting shrugs from the others.

"But there's one major reason why your speed isn't hard for me to keep up with." The blond spoke vaguely as he jumped back, putted several feet between him and his opponent.

The werewolf jumped back as well, taking a moment to rub a few sore spots from the heavy blows the blond had landed. "Oh and why's that?" The wolf asked in a snarl, glaring at his opponent on the other side of the roof.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a flash of golden light filled Gin's vision. The next thing he knew, he had a kunai pressed to his throat and another aimed at his heart.

"It's because _I'm_ faster than you." Naruto spoke coldly, his blue eyes glaring into his opponent's own eyes as small wisps of golden energy floated off the blond's body before dissipating in the atmosphere. "Now, I'm only going to say this once, _leave my friends the hell alone!_" The blond said in a fierce tone.

The eyes of everyone in the clearing went wide. While Gin was ridiculously fast, they could still see a traces of his movements as he rocketed around the roof. But when Naruto moved just now, it almost seemed as if he had just plain teleported across the entire roof in the blink of an eye.

**'Just what **_**are**_** you Naruto?... Surely that kind of speed can't be normal even among your shinobi...'** Thought an equally mesmerized Moka.

"If you could move that fast... why didn't you do so from the beginning?..." Gin voiced his confusion despite being more than a little shaken up at the sudden presence of a knife at his throat.

"When I move that fast, I have to tap into an energy tank that's limited... I can't afford to waste that energy on a small fry like you." Naruto answered honestly, seeing no reason to hide the truth. Naruto's eyes glazed over. "I know I'll end up needing Kurama's chakra before the end... I miss that snarky bastard..."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Gin asked confused.

Naruto blinked, seemingly realizing where he was, before chuckling lightly. "Nothing important."

Abruptly, the blond moved the kunai away from the Gin's vitals, turned on his heel, and began to walk away.

"Wh-what you're just walking away before we finish?" The wolf cried out in bewilderment, cursing himself for the slight hitch in his voice.

Naruto simply waved over his shoulder without turning. "Call it a hunch, but I don't think you're a completely bad person at heart, so I don't really feel like kicking your ass anymore... Besides, you're forgetting that I wasn't your original opponent."

Gin wondered what he meant when a sudden powerful hand clamped down on his arm. He turned to find Moka smirking at him like a predator with prey within it's clutches.

"Oh, and one last thing; you hit like a little bitch! I've been hit harder by twelve year old girls!" Naruto's voice reached Gin's ears as he watched in horror as Moka spun her body around in a roundhouse kick.

"**Know your place!"**

-x-**X**-x-

(Next Day – Walkway to the School)

"Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" Naruto shouted with a big grin, waving around a single page story their club had made. "Tsukune Aono proven innocent! The actual perpetrator in the 'peeper riot' was Ginei Morioka from the second year class one!"

The whole newspaper club, minus Gin, were standing near the school's events bulletin board handing out the information to the students who passed by.

Tsukune chuckled. "I never expected that _this_ would end up becoming our club's first job!"

Naruto snorted. "Really? Personally I think I would have been more surprised if our first story had _actually_ been on something boring. It seems like one of us gets into some kind of mess every other day at this place."

Tsukune grunted in acknowledgment, agreeing with the blond's point, but looking like he didn't like it.

"I wonder what kind of stories we'll get to write about when we do our first full issue?" Yukari asked, looking excited.

Kurumu suddenly jumped onto Naruto's back "I'm going to write all about the love between Naruto-kun and myself!" She declared happily, only to be knocked off his back by a hunk of ice waking her upside the head.

"No one wants to read about your wild fantasies boob girl." Mizore mocked dryly walking over to Naruto and silently placing one of her arms around one of his own.

Kurumu hopped back up and glared at the purple haired girl. "You wanna go stalker girl?!"

Naruto quickly held up a hand. "Whoa, whoa, that's enough girls. There's no need to fight right now."

Moka stepped up and not so subtlety took the blond's raised arm and placed it near her chest. "Naruto-kun's is right! This is our first project together as a club, we should be celebrating right now not fighting!"

Kurumu walked forward, and wrapped her arms around the blond's midsection, pressing her chest against the male's own. "How should we _celebrate_ Naruto-kun?..." The succubus asked with a sultry wink.

It was at that moment the gravity of the situation set in for Naruto. The blond turned red, stuttered, and tried to form coherent sentences once he realized that he had three beautiful girls all clinging onto his form.

From beside a nearby tree, Gin watched the scene in amazement.

"That magnificent bastard." The Lycanthrope groused. "How the hell does he do it?..." He felt a hand land on his shoulder and turned to see Tsukune.

"I don't know, I've been asking the same question for weeks now!" The human exclaimed with over-dramatic tears running down his face.

Gin stood surprised for a moment that Tsukune didn't seem to hold a grudge against him for trying to frame him yesterday, then smiled and shook the human's hand.

A new beautiful friendship, forged by jealousy and the feelings of ineptitude, was formed that day...

"There he is girls! It's the pervert!"

Gin immediately used the hand still connected to the human's own to throw Tsukune towards the angry mob of girls that were out for the lycanthrope's blood. "He did it!" The werewolf cried running for the hills.

So much for friendship...

After running away for several minutes the wolfish male suddenly turned and spoke seriously to the mob of girls as he recalled how he witnessed Naruto avoid trouble with females the other day. "Please, ladies, may I see your panties?"

"..."

"..."

The werewolf's cries of pain filled the air shortly after.

Yeah... his technique could use a little work...

* * *

**_AN:_ So yeah, Naruto is a _former_ Jinchuuriki. That's why he didn't immediately snap out of Kurumu's charm a couple chapters back, he's by his lonesome now. Naruto's seal is still loaded with the fox's corrosive chakra and he can use his golden 'sealed hatred' form (Or whatever they're calling it now), but once the blond uses the chakra up, that's it. It's gone and it won't come back. So he has to use the powerful chakra sparingly and only when he truly needs it. How all this came to be, and exactly where Kurama is now, will be expanded upon later...**

**Answer one question and even more pop up... ;P**

**Oh, and since I _know_ some jackass is going to accuse me of nerfing Naruto just to make things 'more interesting', I'll say this: Naruto no longer being a Jinchuuriki is something that's deeply intertwined with the overall plot. The fact that it somewhat weakens Naruto is just an unintended side effect. Accept it for what it is, or kindly STFU. :)**

**Now then, one of the reviewers in the last chapter brought up some interesting points I feel I should address: **

**First off, he commented on how Tsukune is redundant in the story. It's something a few people have mentioned actually, saying that his only purpose is to make Naruto look better by comparison. **

**I... honestly can't deny that's how it must look if you choose to view it that way, but I will say this: At the moment, you're only seeing a small piece of the picture that I'm envisioning... Tsukune will actually play a pretty big role in things to come. In fact, there's one scene in particular, with him at the center of it, that I'm _really_ looking forward to writing. Besides, I honestly think it would have been dumb to have him, a normal pansy human, at the center of supernatural fights from the get-go. Also, I kinda liked the idea of slowly evolving his character as I went along.**

**The second point the reviewer brought up was that there was a lack of conflict in the story. How nobody wants to read about a protagonist who just breezes through every trial.**

**My response is that is that I agree 100%. A story with no challenge whatsoever is boring as hell. It's actually why I've had such a heavy focus on humor thus far, to keep people entertained despite the lack of a real struggle while I establish the characters. **

**You have to take into account that this is a post Fourth Ninja War Naruto against a bunch of hot headed teenagers with no formal training that rely purely on instincts. To have Naruto _not_ curb-stomp these cannon fodder would be an insult to his character.**

**Frankly put, no one other than the absolute elites of the Rosario-verse would even stand a ghost of a chance against Naruto. He's simply far too strong for any monster that relies solely on straightforward abilities.**

**Besides, the canon R+V is not really any different. Inner Moka pretty much one hit KO's everyone but the 'big bads'.**

**Don't worry though, I have plenty of ideas on how to make things interesting in the upcoming events. There are countless ways to test a protagonist outside of fair fights after all... I'm actually a bit worried I went overboard with a few of the trials ahead, haha.**

**Have a nice day folks. :)**

_**Read / Review**_

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